Fallen Olympus
by ShadowMajin
Summary: AU. Sequel to Anonymous Void's Three Sides of Fate. Darkness claimed him. Fire consumed him. And when he awoke, his worst fear had been realized. The Justice League had a bad day and the world suffered for it.
1. Night On The Town

Hello again, it's ShadowMajin and I'm here with the next Justice League story of Anonymous Void and my series. This time around, we're doing something different. Each of us has gone solo and written a story that occurs at roughly the same time, so you'll be seeing a story from the both of us. AV will be posting his story next week, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

The Earth was a sight to behold.

Like a blue jewel on the backdrop of darkness, its beauty was breathtaking. The moon was further in the background, a pale imitation as it slowly, painstakingly, glided through the inky blackness of space. There was a silence that was comforting, which helped make the Earth the primary focus.

"You like it up here," the deep voice of J'onn J'onzz intoned.

Superman tore his eyes away from the planet to regard his friend. "How could you tell?" he asked in amusement.

"I rarely see you with a frown when you are up here," the Martian replied as he came to stand next to the dark-haired man. "There's a serenity you exhibit that I find most pleasing."

"It may be the view," Superman suggested as he returned his eyes to the planet. "In spite of all the crime and despair I've seen, when looking at it from up here, it's as if none of that exists. No matter what is done, Earth is going to continue to turn without a second thought. I guess there's some moral in that."

"Quite philosophical, if I may say so."

The two fell silent at that point, regarding Earth with admiration. It was times like this that Superman found were most enjoyable. There was no care, no worry, no concern. It was as if everything would be okay if he just stood there and watched the world turn.

Of course, as a hero, he knew that was not the case.

"I'm guessing you didn't come here to wax poetic philosophy," he said after a time. Looking to the green man, he then asked, "Is there something you wanted?"

"It has been nearly two years since you were coerced into attacking Metropolis," J'onn answered, not bothering to beat around the bush. "I wanted to see how you were doing considering the backlash you faced following that incident."

Superman's mood darkened. Though he was basically the equivalent of being drugged, he had been suckered in by the Joker and used as a weapon of mass destruction on the very city he had sworn to protect. The immediate aftermath had not been pretty whatsoever. Requests from the police had all but vanished, the citizens calling for him to be tried in court, or just to leave permanently. It didn't really matter where he went so long as he was no longer in Metropolis. After seeing images of the city after the attack and the accounts the others in the Justice League had written in their reports, the Kryptonian honestly didn't blame them.

Yet, he stayed. Though the looks of fear he saw as he continued to serve as the city's protector were concerning, slowly, but surely, people were beginning to warm back up to him. While there were still plenty of people that wanted him to leave the planet and never return—more than there had been before the attack—his relationship with Metropolis was improving every day. In fact, dare he say it, it was practically back to what it was beforehand.

And this time, he was going to keep it that way.

"I think I've just about won over everyone that I can," he said after awhile. "I doubt I'll ever win over the entire city again, but people aren't actively avoiding me anymore. The police are calling me in on difficult cases again, Luthor is still up to no good—it's almost like it's back to normal."

"I am glad to hear that." J'onn placed one of his large hands on Superman's shoulder, giving him a comforting squeeze. "Not just anyone will continue to serve others in the face of fear and hatred."

"I wasn't the only one to suffer from that situation. Central City was hit just as hard."

"By its own citizens. According to Flash, people are trusting one another now. There's still some weariness, but it has more or less returned to what it once was."

That seemed to be a theme. People had lost trusts in others and that lost trust was difficult to restore. It was never going to be the way it was once before and that was a sad notion to consider. Still, it could've been a lot worse.

"Speaking of," Superman began, attempting to change the subject, "how is Flash doing?"

"Up to his shenanigans as usual. Apparently he received some sort of motor vehicle as reward for his services recently. Flash has been giddy about it."

"I think I recall hearing something like that." It was something out of a marketer's dream. Some used car lot had given Flash a van as a gift. It was allegedly for helping out the car lot's owner, but was more likely a way to get the city's superhero to be an unwitting spokesman for the owner. Flash had been ecstatic regardless and accepted the gift without hesitation.

However, if the car lot owner thought he was getting free advertisement, he was very wrong. According to news reports, Flash had spruced up his new ride, giving it a new paint job and other decorations. He proudly called it the Flash-mobile.

Wonder where he got the name.

"I suppose the next time we'll see him is at the meeting coming up," Superman commented after a while. "I hear he's busy playing with his new van."

"For you, perhaps," J'onn replied. "I have monitor duty with him in two days."

"Really? I thought it was you and John."

"Green Lantern switched shifts, I believe."

Now that was something new. It wasn't often John Stewart changed shifts with anyone. His military background dictated that when he had a scheduled shift, that was when he was going to fulfill it. There was one time where Oa had called him for an assignment, but that was it.

However, Superman had a slight inkling as to why John had made the change. Lately, the man had been spending more and more time with another of their co-workers, Hawkgirl. At first, Superman had been surprised to see their closeness, but apparently that was due to a recent mission they had worked on. It had only been the two of them and ever since they had begun actively hanging out with each other when off-duty. Though Superman knew he often missed certain signals between men and women, he was beginning to suspect these were early signs of a budding romance.

That sounded cheesy, yeah, but Ma Kent had sent him a romance novel not too long ago. It had been a pretty good read, actually. But it was the most likely culprit as to why the Kryptonian was reading between the lines in regards to his teammates.

There was a bemused look on J'onn's face. "I must read this novel of yours," he said humorously. "Perhaps I can glean some insight as well."

A blush appeared on the dark-haired man's face. "Sorry about that, J'onn. I didn't realize I was broadcasting my thoughts so loud."

"That's quite alright. Though I would like to hear your thoughts on another couple."

That got his attention. "There's someone else?" he asked with surprise. "Who? When?"

J'onn stared at him for a moment before he coughed uncomfortably. "I believe I may have misspoken. I had believed I had witnessed something quite obvious."

"What is it, J'onn? You can tell me."

It was a day for miracles it seemed as the Martian actually shifted his feet anxiously. Superman had never seen the Martian do any of these nervous behaviors before; it was remarkable, really. "It involves Diana," he was slow to say.

Superman's eyes widened. "Diana? Are you sure? With who?"

A moment later and a named popped into the Kryptonian's head. "Are you absolutely sure?" he practically demanded. "It wasn't that long ago she wanted to rip his head off from his shoulders."

"That was when we first met. They've both come a long way since then."

"But he wanted absolutely nothing to do with us. He was particularly mad at me and Diana."

"Is he still mad with you?" J'onn countered, raising the Martian equivalent of an eyebrow at him.

The dark-haired man paused. "I don't think so. He hasn't glared at me for awhile now."

"And who was the liaison between him and us when the state governor asked for the League's assistance?"

That would have been...holy moly. Was there something going on between them? "Do you know where they're at?"

"Not specifically, no. However, Diana was last aboard the Watchtower an hour ago. The logs say she teleported to Gotham around then."

It wasn't solid evidence, but there was quite a bit of circumstantial. Superman refrained from running his fingers through his hair. That was a nervous habit he had when he was stumped. "I really hope they know what they're doing," he said after awhile.

* * *

The saxophone played with a jazzy smoothness, filling up the club with its sound. The lights were dim, tables were filled with people watching the saxophone player along with his band. A drummer was keeping the tempo as he softly tapped the cymbals and drums with his sticks. A piano played in the background, making sure to never take the attention from the sax. Servers were walking around, delivering drinks to the tables. A man in a steam-pressed suit stood at center stage, holding a microphone stand tightly in his hand, bringing the mike to his mouth.

"Am I blue?" he sang. "Am I blue? Ain't these tears, in these eyes, telling yoooooou..."

"I don't believe I've ever been to a jazz club," Diana said as the singer continued his song. She was seated in a chair, dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt. There was a glass of liquor nearby, but she hadn't touched it since it had been set in front of her. Instead she watched the musicians and the singer perform their craft.

"I'm honored that I'm your first," Bruce responded, leaning back in his seat as he gazed languidly at the stage. Unlike the princess, he had his own drink nearby, half-empty by this point. It seemed like a good night for a drink.

A smile appeared on the dark-haired woman's face as she glanced to him. "What possessed you to bring me here? Not that I'm complaining."

Bruce shrugged his shoulders before picking up his glass, taking a sip of the whisky within. Though he was reluctant to call this a date, in some ways it was. He had stepped out of his comfort zone and invited the Amazon Princess to a jazz club and she had accepted. So far he hadn't regretted that decision. "Well, I wasn't in the mood for a charity gala; I think there's one going on tonight. The thought of wining and dining there didn't appeal."

"You didn't want to get dressed up, did you?"

The billionaire was also dressed casually, or at least as casual as a billionaire let himself be. Slacks and a button-down shirt comprised his wardrobe, though a nearby set of sunglasses were sitting on the table. Just because he was dressed-down—for him—somewhat didn't mean he was completely unrecognizable. Perhaps he was more dressed up than his date, but her choice in clothing matched with most of the club goers. "Maybe," he admitted as much. "Maybe I rather be sitting down in a dimly-lit room with much better company."

Diana picked up her drink then, finally taking a sip from it. "I suppose I'm the better company."

"I was actually talking about Ricky Valentino up there. I rather enjoy his singing voice."

The woman gave him a teasing look. Raising a hand up, she brushed aside some hair that had fallen in front of her face, tucking it behind her ear. "And you wanted to share that with me. I guess it's my turn to feel honored."

"You better. Ricky has an ego on him and if it isn't properly stroked, he can become a bit of a diva."

Diana chuckled. "I hear that's how most entertainers are. They would be most ashamed were they to hear the Muses. Their singing is divine."

"Considering they're considered the originators of song and story, I would completely expect they would put Ricky here to shame. Just don't tell him I said that."

A server appeared at their table. "Is there anything I can get for you?" he asked patiently. Bruce shook his head, his fingertips pressing against the top of his glass, his palm hovering over it. Diana at least granted him a "No, thank you." The young man nodded before he left them alone, leaving them to the soothing melody of the song.

"I'm sure you've heard that Flash has a new van," Diana ventured after awhile.

Bruce snorted. That was the dumbest thing he had heard of in quite some time. Whoever thought a man whose superpower was super speed would need an actual van was beyond him. That Wally West accepted it was just as baffling; it wasn't like he could drive it as a civilian, especially since it would raise questions as to why Wally West had the vehicle and not Flash. Yet, the speedster took the keys with gusto and hadn't looked back since.

"I sense some disapproval."

"You sense right." He took another drink. "Why does the fastest man alive need a van?"

"You don't know, World's Greatest Detective?" Diana asked teasingly.

Recently, the dark-haired man had earned himself a new title along the ones he had collected over the years. It was mostly due to his recent solving of a few cold cases that had begun gathering dust, which had prompted someone to call him the World's Greatest Detective. Someone in the press had overheard it and it had begun to stick. It was getting a better workout than the Caped Crusader, but not nearly as much as the Dark Knight.

Even being called such, however, didn't give him any insight into Flash's latest exercise in stupidity.

Diana was aware of this title it seemed. "To save you the suspense: I asked him. He said something about picking up chicks."

Bruce paused before looking to Diana. "And what on God's green earth made him think a _van_ was a chick magnet?"

"I believe he said it wasn't the car, but the vibe it gave off. If they saw the Flash driving it, they would come to him."

"Or they'd run as far away as they could. A van doesn't invite people to it; it screams that it wants to kidnap people."

The dark-haired woman raised an eyebrow. "Spoken from experience?"

"Half of Gotham has been kidnapped by white-panel vans. They've practically outlawed them at this point."

She shook her head bemused. "Your cynicism is showing. I don't see any harm in Flash owning such a vehicle."

"Then let's test his theory." Bruce adjusted himself in his seat as he faced Diana. "Would you ride around in his van?"

The Amazon paused before a grimace slowly worked its way onto her face. There was no need for words, it was evident just what the woman though of the van. Smirking victoriously, he slouched back into his chair even as Diana tried to hide her growing embarrassment behind her glass as she sipped from it.

Fortunately for her, the current song came to an end then, the audience beginning to clap. Diana set her glass down and joined in the show of appreciation while Bruce managed a few claps. Once the applause died down, another, more upbeat song started.

Immediately, Diana's head perked up. "I like the sound of this." Consciously—or unconsciously—she began to sway in her seat from her shoulders to her hips. It was almost like she were dancing in the chair.

And Bruce watched her. Perhaps it was the booze getting to him—though he honestly only had one drink so far—but he found himself appreciating her sensuous moves. He found them quite captivating. There was a part of him that wished he was the chair.

Diana seemed to catch his eye then. "Enjoying the show?" she asked teasingly, her motions gradually slowing down.

"I was," he admitted, pulling himself up in the chair as he realized he had sunk quite a ways down. "If you want, you can keep going. I have no problem with it."

Her smile was breathtaking—yeah, the booze was definitely talking here. "Perhaps if there was an area here, I could dance properly. You could join me."

"I would have to. With all of the men here, the moment you started I'd never see you again."

Diana's eyes twinkled with mirth. She then reached across the table, her hand reaching out to him. Bruce stared at the gesture before he dropped his hand to the table. Diana's followed, resting her hand on top of his. "I'm really glad you brought me here," she said earnestly. "I'm having a wonderful time."

Maybe it was his drink whispering to him again. Maybe it was the lighting in the room playing tricks with his eyes. Regardless, he thought he saw a hint of promise in her eyes, something that suggested more time with each other after this. It was quite alluring.

A small smile appeared on his face. "So am I, Princess. So am I."

* * *

There was a cool breeze thanks in part to the sun fading over the horizon. The seasons were starting to change, albeit later in the year than expected.

Shayera glided through the sky, lazily flapping her wings every so often to stay afloat. Not too far away was John Stewart, Earth's resident Green Lantern. The man was drifting from side to side in his flight, a result of all the alcohol he had drunk while at the bar they had just vacated.

Light-weight.

The redhead smirked at the man. He had boasted of his high tolerance to booze earlier in the evening; however, he had never taken a Thanagarian on in a drinking contest. As if Earth had anything that could remotely do her in. Though that absinthe stuff did pack a punch, she had to admit.

While she was flying uninhibited, John couldn't say the same. He was correcting himself every so often, which wasn't the norm for the military man. They were on their way to another bar, the next part in their planned night of bar-hopping. It was one of the things Shayera did to entertain herself on her nights off. If she was lucky, she'd get buzzed.

John, on the other hand, was more of a pick-your-place-and-hunker-down guy. That was boring for the record, especially when a fight didn't break out. A night wasn't complete if someone didn't get hit in the head with a chair.

"Seriously, Shayera," the Lantern said, "let's just find some place to sit down, alright? All of this hopping nonsense is just a waste of time."

"You know, you sound old when you say things like that," she remarked bemused.

"Well, I'm not exactly a spring chicken," he retorted. "I did all of this when I was younger and it wasn't that big of a deal then."

"That's because you were a boring old man when you were younger. Now quit your bellyaching. We have at least three more places to hit up. Need I remind you this was your idea."

"No, my idea was just to hang out at one bar— _one._ I never said anything about hitting every single bar in Midway."

"No, you said you wanted to go have drinks. You never specified any location. In fact, as I recall, you said it was _my choice._ You should've specified the limitations."

John glared at her. "Are you sure you were some lieutenant in the military? Because you sound awfully like a lawyer."

Shayera smirked back at him. "It's just a few things I've picked up since being on Earth. I'll have you know that I never talked this way when I first arrived."

"I don't think you talked at all. If you did, it was with your mace."

This time she narrowed her eyes. "I'm pretty sure you didn't mean to say that out loud."

There was a pause. "Uhh, I'm not actually sure if I did or not."

"Trust me, I know inner monologue when I hear it."

"Now how would you know what inner monologue is if it's supposed to be internal? I don't think you said you were a mind-reader."

Well, he did have a point. However, John began drifting to a side and down, which was bringing him closer to the buildings that were below them. In fact, one stood higher than its contemporaries and they were flying right for it. "Hey, you might want to focus on your flying. You're getting too close to the buildings," she warned him.

"Do I give you flying tips?" John responded irritably.

As if karma were alive and well in that moment, the Green Lantern flew head first into the tall building the redhead had spied moments before. It seemed she had been a bit late in her warning. Then again, John Stewart should've heeded her advice, you know, since she definitely had more flying experience than he had.

Soaring forward, she made a U-turn once she past the building, heading back to the other side. Once there, she saw one of the windows broken, clearly where John had crashed through it. Flying out to gain more distance, she once again turned around and made her way to the broken window. At the last moment she tucked her wings in and shot right through the hole, not so much as touching the jagged glass.

Immediately, she opened her wings and leaned backwards, stopping her flight. She touched down on tile flooring a moment later, her head turning left to right and back in search of her friend.

She spotted John on the far side of the room, crouching on one knee. "What did I tell you?" she asked as she approached him. "You weren't paying attention to your surroundings."

"Tell me, Shayera," the man said, his tone his usual serious one. The change from the friendly banter to what she considered his work voice immediately grabbed her attention. "Out of all the places in Midway, where would the military store their supplies?"

 _Military?_ The Thanagarian frowned. "The only place would be a military base, but there's not one for miles in this area."

John shifted to one side, reveal a dark green crate. It was small and rectangular, maybe a couple feet in height, four to five feet long. There were even black numbers painted on the wood, indicating a serial number.

More importantly, what was that doing here?

"I think we have a straggler," John said after awhile. He then aimed his ring at it and a green light flowed out of it. It was much like looking at a beam of a flashlight on the military crate, except it was green. "No booby traps," he muttered a moment later. "Let's open it and see what we're dealing with."

The green light vanished then. In its place a green-glowing crowbar appeared, one which John inserted one end into a crack on the crate. The wood protested as the lid was forcefully lifted up, the bodies of long nails being revealed in the growing gap.

And then the lid came off, revealing a bedding of hay inside. More importantly, small packages rested in the hay. To Shayera, they looked very much like high-powered explosives. The only thing missing was the usual C-4 characters printed on the packages.

"I don't know about you, but that looks like an explosive to me," she spoke after a moment.

"I'm gonna have to agree with you on that one," the Lantern replied, his eyes focused on the crate's contents. "Let's take this to the Watchtower and use the database there to track down the serial number. We should also check out the rest of the building for more of this stuff."

"Or for other suspicious-looking crates," she added.

"That too."

"You know, I was looking forward to a night off from work."

"Me too, girl. Me too."

* * *

For you BM/WW fans out there, I'm sure you recognize the song Ricky Valentino is singing. That one's for you.


	2. What The Heck Is Canidite?

The first question came from Flash naturally. "Uhh, what the heck is Canidite?"

The entire Justice League was present at this meeting, seated around the round table. For Batman, Gotham was currently at a lull in its seasonal crime wave, so he was comfortable allowing Gotham's other vigilantes to watch over the city in his stead while he attended the meeting. That and the alarming fact that a top secret explosive had been discovered in a place where it shouldn't have been.

"Canidite is an experimental compound developed by the military," Green Lantern answered in response. He was currently standing next to his chair as he presented his findings. From the center of the table was a holographic image of said compound in the crate it was found in. He and Hawkgirl had recovered it from a building in Midway the previous night, which had begun the League's investigation. "From what I was able to obtained from the research notes, it's a pretty powerful explosive too."

"Just how powerful are we talking?" Flash inquired. "Like TNT powerful? Atom bomb powerful?"

"Let's put it this way: when demolition crews are demolishing a building, they place dynamite in certain areas of the building, usually the main supports and subsequent structures. So we're talking quite a bit. Just one pack of Canidite at the main support beam can level an entire building."

Flash's eyes widened as he gave a low whistle. "And naturally the military has other ideas for this thing."

"That's right. However, we're talking about something that's top secret; the number of people that knew about it were limited to the research team, the colonel overseeing the project, and his superior, a General Samuel Lane. According to the files, none of them would have any idea how those crates of Canidite ended up in Midway. There are some serious transport protocols they follow and there isn't so much as a note detailing a breach."

"How many did you find?" Superman asked, catching onto the Lantern's use of the plural.

"In total, sixteen crates. They were held in two other rooms, along with various automatic weapons and explosives. Not going to lie, I was starting to get a Despero deja vu."

"So you think someone's stockpiling this for an attack," the Kryptonian surmised.

"Wouldn't you?" Hawkgirl countered.

"It does seem strange the military didn't know about this missing compound," Diana pointed out.

"Didn't know, or conveniently forgot?" Batman replied. "It wouldn't be the first time the military stored questionable materials in unsecured locations."

A frown appeared on Stewart's face. "What are you getting at? You think the military purposefully stored the Canidite there?"

"It's certainly a possibility."

"Perhaps you should wait until you hear what I found," Hawkgirl interrupted, earning herself the attention of the meeting. "I checked to see who owned the building and came back with nothing. Apparently the city intends on demolishing the building in six months. They're currently negotiating a deal with the building's owner to get the rights to it."

"Who's the owner?" Flash asked.

"That's where I came across some difficulty. As far as I can tell, it's a company rather than an individual: Sumatra Inc. When I dug deeper into the company, I didn't get much. There isn't an address, website, anything that indicates what they do. I think it's a dummy corporation, honestly."

"So perhaps organized crime has a hand in this?" Superman suggested. "That might be something worth investigating."

"Doubtful," Batman said. "If organized crime is involved, there's no way they would have access to the facilities the Canidite is kept. For them to get their hands on it, they would have robbed a transport caravan, which if that was the case, everyone involved would know of the missing shipment." He then turned his attention to Green Lantern. "Did your research indicate that any shipments went missing?"

Stewart shook his head. "Negative. I'd have to speak with General Lane though, to see if he does know anything about it."

"And someone else should go inspect the storage facilities to see if it's possible for any of the Canidite to be taken directly," Batman added.

"That sounds like your area of expertise," Diana said, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

"I can take care of the storage facility if there are no objections," he responded, keeping his face blank.

"And I'll talk to General Lane," Stewart volunteered. "In any case, we should have some backup available."

"Where is this storage facility in regards to General Lane?" J'onn inquired then.

Lantern looked down at the papers on the table in front of him. While he had the advanced tech the Watchtower provided for briefings, the former marine was old school when it came to his presentations. He kept physical copies with him in case he needed to review something during the meeting. For a few moments he was quiet as he read a sheet and then another.

Then, "According to this, Lane is stationed at the same location as the storage facility: Ferris Air Force Base outside of Coast City."

"I can accompany you to your meeting with the general," Diana offered then. "That way if Batman has any issues at the storage facility, both of us will be in the area to lend assistance."

Stewart nodded his acceptance. "That sounds good to me. How about you?" he then directed to the vigilante.

"I have no issue," was his succinct reply.

"So what does that leave with the rest of us?" Flash brought up then.

"I believe Hawkgirl and J'onn should try to find out more on this Samatra company," Superman said. "Between the two of them, I think they can find something. Flash, you should do a sweep of Midway City to make sure there aren't any more stashes of the Canidite."

"And what about you, Supes?"

If the dark-haired man had a necktie on, he would've been pulling at it out of nerves. "I have plans this evening."

If receiving an award was considered plans, then yes he did. Clark Kent had been nominated for a journalism ethics award and the winner was supposed to be announced tonight. Of course, Kent had sent in his RSVP weeks ago and pending an actual emergency was expected to go.

Of course, Flash didn't know this. "What are they? Something to do with that reporter friend of yours? Or have you taken that to the next level?"

Green Lantern scowled at the question. "Not the time for that, Hot Shot," he said warningly.

"Hey! I was just curious!" the red-clad man protested. "Not everyone here tells everyone what they do in their personal lives."

"For good reason: it doesn't belong during a League meeting."

"Alright, alright, chill, Mr. Fancy Pants."

If Flash was starting to make jokes, it seemed this meeting was coming to a close. "Is there anything else we should know about?" the vigilante asked, returning the meeting to its original topic.

"I don't have anything else. Do you?" the Lantern deferred to Hawkgirl.

"Nothing from me," the Thanagarian replied.

Batman then stood up out of his seat. "Then I'll be heading to the storage facility. I'll report what I find once I'm through."

"And that's our cue to go see General Lane," Diana added.

"Well, well, looks like the meeting's over," Flash remarked before turning his chair to face Superman. "So anyways, what is going on with you and that Lois chick?"

* * *

General Samuel Lane was not a happy man. To the point, he was not happy to see two superheroes in his office.

That's what the expression on his face said. His words were a different matter. "Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

"We just have a few questions, General," John Stewart answered as he stood ramrod straight, arms behind his back. To Diana, it was a pose of respect given to one that was considered a superior.

General Lane's stern face didn't change one bit. "And what would those entail?" He shifted his broad shoulders as he made himself more comfortable in his chair.

"We found a military-developed explosive in a civilian setting," John replied. "About sixteen crates of it too. According to the serial number, it's called Canidite. We'd like to know how it got here."

The look on the general's face clearly showed his surprise. "I'd like to know the answer to that too," he exclaimed, moving forward in his seat as he rested his arms onto his desk, entwining fingers together. "Where did you find it?"

"As I said, in a civilian setting."

"Perhaps if you tell us how it is stored, we can come up with a theory?" Diana suggested. Just looking at the two military men, there was going to be some stubbornness between the two.

Lane's eyes switched over to her. "I'm not at liberty to go into those details," he responded. "Just know that every measure taken for development, transport, and storage is taken."

"Considering just a small amount of this can take out an entire building, maybe even a city block, I would sure hope so," the Green Lantern retorted. "Though since we found some, I believe there was a precaution failure at transport or storage."

That caused a scowl to appear on the general's face. "You have to understand, this is a top-secret matter and I cannot and will not reveal all of the specifics. It sounds to me like you've already gotten the gist of it from your research."

This was going nowhere. Diana fought back the groan she felt working its way up her throat. "Could you tell us where it is stored then? For instance, is it on this base or elsewhere?"

General Lane seemed to weigh that question in his mind before saying, "I can confirm that all of the material developed is stored right here at Ferris. There is nowhere else it is transported."

"Just from the lab to the manufacturing to the storage units," she confirmed, raising an eyebrow in response.

"That's correct."

"Then that would indicate someone on the base is leaking it out," John surmised as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Lane looked affronted by that assertion. "I'll have you know I have the finest men working on this base, Lantern. There's not a one of them that would risk the consequences of being caught selling or distributing it."

That's when John pulled out a sample of the explosive, placing it down hard on the general's desk. "Then how do you explain this?"

The man actually paled at the sight of the explosive. "The way I see it, either someone is sneaking it off the base, or there's an active order to ship it to another location. Whether it reaches that location, or is stolen in transit, is another question, but if I were you, I'd stop your stonewalling on this."

Diana was in total agreement. When General Lane had mentioned transportation and then said none of the explosive compound left the base, she had known the man was lying. What was the point of transporting the explosive if it was not leaving the base? Whether it was because of the general's job, or just to keep a secret, it did not matter. John had caught onto that as well.

It took a moment before General Lane's shoulders sagged. "Alright, I'll tell you. But this does not go beyond these office walls, understand?"

Upon seeing their nods of acceptance, he continued, "We initially stored the Canidite on Ferris, that much is true. Every other month we send out a shipment of four crates—that's all anyone is willing to take at a time as recommended by the research team. It's supposed to go to Edwards Air Force Base and from there I'm not sure. The first order was about a training simulation if I remember correctly."

"How many shipments have you made so far?" Diana asked.

"Eight, so thirty two crates in total."

"Sixteen of which ended up in Midway City instead," John finished for him.

"Midway?" Lane looked at the Lantern in disbelief. "What the hell was it doing there?"

"Waiting from the looks of it. Someone was storing it there," the Amazon was quick to inform. "However, that leaves sixteen crates unaccounted for. Do you know for certain that they reached Edwards?"

Lane immediately had his office phone in hand. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

* * *

The warehouse was filled with crates, barrels, and pallets of military supplies. Body armor, ammunition, guns, explosives, even transport vehicles were housed here. Each was meticulously placed throughout the building, organized for efficiency and order.

That only made Batman's job easier.

While Diana and Green Lantern had entered the base though the front door, he had taken a less direct approach. Considering the recurrence of patrols in the area, it had taken a little time to figure out the patrol pattern and exploit it. That had been the easy part.

Once he found his way into the building, he had done just that. How he had done just that was best left unsaid. One never knew when they'd need to use such an entrance—or convenient exit—again. Tricks of the trade.

The lighting was dim at best. Either someone had turned on the lights recently, or were powering them down. In either case, there was minimal light, not that he was complaining. This created more shadows for him so if someone did a routine check, he could take cover quite easily.

Most of the crates were sealed shut from what he could tell. Walking down the cement path, the vigilante looked left to right and back, examining his surroundings. He ended up coming to a stop when he noticed one of the wooden box's lid was open, haphazardly turned in a poor attempt to close it. Staring at it for a moment, he then walked over to the box, coming to a stop in front of it as he lifted the lid up.

Inside were ball bearings, filling up the box nearly to the top. It seemed someone wanted a few for some reason. Batman carried a few in his belt should he need to create a distraction, or divert attention elsewhere. Why someone in the Air Force wanted them was something else entirely and didn't warrant further investigation.

Moving on, he headed further down the aisle reaching the end, which presented him with two choices. To his left he could see the word AMMO painted in bright yellow letters on the floor. To the right were just more shelving and boxes. Knowing what lay to the left, he made a right, his cape sweeping behind him.

Eventually he found wire fencing, which cordoned off a small area from the rest of the room. Peering through the holes formed by the fencing, he saw pallets loaded with green wooden boxes. The vigilante knew he had found what he was looking for.

It probably helped that there was a sign that said DANGER! HIGHLY DANGEROUS MATERIALS attached to the fence.

He found a gate shortly after, which was secured to the fence by a lock and chain. It was a pretty large lock, absurdly so. Grabbing it, he held up the lock, studied it before he pulled out his lock pick set. Pulling out one, he placed the pick inside of the lock and searched for the tumbler inside. Finding it, he forced it out of position, which caused the lock's body to disengage from the bar.

Unwrapping the chain from the metal post, he then pushed the gate open and entered the restricted area. Approaching the crates, he spotted the serial number and saw they were a match for the ones Green Lantern and Hawkgirl found. There were two pallets present, ten crates to each.

Turning around, he saw a clipboard hanging on the fence. Walking to it, he grabbed the clipboard and held it closer to his face. It became apparent it was an inventory list and according to it, there were supposed to be twenty crates present. That matched what he saw.

However, there were previous counts. Adding them up, there were thirty two crates that had been shipped out over the last few months. Considering sixteen were now in the possession of the Justice League, that left sixteen unaccounted for.

Placing the clipboard back in place, he left the restricted area, locking it up as he had found it. He made his way towards the front of the warehouse, finding a small office with a couple of guards visible through a large window.

Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out a small pellet. Creeping up on the office, he cracked the door open and tossed the pellet in, making sure to close the door soon after. It would take a couple of seconds, but an odorless gas would be released, which should render the guards unconscious in the next…

He heard something hit the floor, prompting the dark-clad man to peek through the window. One of the guards had dropped to the floor, lying on his stomach with his arms spread out. The other guard slouched in his chair, his head tilted at a rather uncomfortable-looking angle.

Batman didn't immediately enter the office. Though potent, the gas would slowly dilute itself in the next minute, ensuring that he didn't fall victim to its effects. Patiently he waited until the desired time came, the dark-clad man opening the door and walking in when he was certain it was safe.

As expected, the gas had dissipated. Walking up to the computer terminal, he accessed its records, typing in the serial number for the Canidite. It took a moment for the desired record to appear, but it did as commanded. Reading the results, he found the computer had put up the digitally scanned forms of the transfer orders. Eight shipments had been sent out by truck, heading for a series of coordinates.

Pulling out his palm pilot, he opened a GPS program, entering the indicated coordinates. It only took a couple of seconds before the image of the United States appeared. The screen then zoomed in towards the western side of the U.S., a dot appearing in a remote area of Nevada.

Raising a hand to the side of his cowl, he activated his comm link and said, "Lantern, Wonder Woman, come in."

" _We read you, Batman,"_ Diana's voice answered him immediately. They must have finished with their meeting with General Lane.

"I'm sending you a set of coordinates. I'll meet you at that location."

" _Understood. Wonder Woman, out."_

With that done, Batman then pulled out an external hard drive and inserted it into USB port. He transferred all of the data on the Canidite onto the drive, even going so far as to have the computer search for anything mentioning the explosive compound. Satisfied that he had everything, he then shut all the program windows down and pulled out the thumb drive. It was time to go meet up with his comrades.

* * *

There was something to be said about an abandoned shack in the middle of the desert.

Cliche for one; when had there not been a time an investigation led to some small shed out in the middle of nowhere? It made sense since no one went snooping around those places.

Pushing the door open as the hinges squealed in protest, John Stewart stared into the rather empty structure. Due to the poor construction of the shack, there were small gaps between the wooden boards that comprised the walls, which allowed sand to blow in every time the wind picked up. That resulted in the floor and walls being coated in a layer of sand and grime.

It wasn't completely unfurnished though. On the wall to the right was a rusted stove that had seen better days probably around the 1950s. Next to it was a cast iron furnace that was in better shape, but the open metal door showed no one had used it in quite some time. There was the odd picture hanging from the wall, but otherwise it was empty.

"So why is it Batman wanted us to come here?" the Lantern asked as he entered the wooden building. Diana was right behind him, looking about the place much like he was.

"He must have a reason," she answered him as she moved to one of the pictures, this one being of a sailboat.

"He usually does," the dark-skinned man grunted. Pointing his ring at the floor, he cast a light, searching for any anomalies. He was hoping for some sort of evidence to show, like footprints, or leftover DNA, be it fluid or hair. He steadily moved his arm, making sure his ring's light touched everything, including Diana.

He came up with nothing. That wasn't too surprising honestly. Due to the shoddiness of the construction, the weather here would've made sure any evidence of use would be wiped out after some time. If this place was being used, whoever used it hadn't been here in a long time.

That was when the wind picked up, the sound of a loud engine roaring. The door banged repeatedly against the wall as it was hit over and over with bursts of wind. From where he stood, John couldn't see what was outside through the open doorway, but he could see sand being blown away by something.

And then the engine stopped. Diana stared towards the entrance, her eyes glazed over. Then, "I believe Batman has arrived."

The Green Lantern had to hold back a retort as to how she knew that. It wasn't that much of a secret that the two heroes had been spending quite a bit of time in each other's company. Though it was usually on monitor duty, their weekly spars, or whatever mission happened to be in progress, it still didn't take away some of their meetings outside of the League. They seemed to be more attuned to each other's presence from what he noticed.

Either that, or Diana had simply been using her super-hearing and determined that it was the vigilante. That was a possibility too.

As proclaimed, Gotham's Dark Knight appeared in the doorway. He stopped right there, his head slowly moving from one side to the other, and then back. It had been odd the first time the Lantern had seen him do that, but he was reminded soon after that the lens in his mask had video recording functions. All that head turning was so that he could get a full picture of his environment should he need to review it at a later time.

"What did General Lane say?" he asked once he was inside, closing the door behind him.

"Not a very trustworthy guy," John answered, crossing his arms over his chest. That meeting had gotten under his skin and for good reason. It may have been some time since he last wore a military uniform, but back then officers of all stripes had hidden intelligence from the foot soldiers. Most of it was under the guise of top secret and need-to-know basis, but John was certain that many deaths on the battlefield could have been avoided had that information been shared. He had picked up immediately that Lane was keeping things from them and that did not sit well with him. "He tried to stonewall us until we hinted at some corruption on the base."

Batman nodded. "Did he know about the Midway shipment?"

"He didn't and that was the only time I believed him. He first said that the Canidite was only stored at Ferris, only to mention later that some had been transported to Edwards Air Force Base. He was still following up on those shipments when we left his office."

"He was right about there being shipments at least," the vigilante remarked. "However, none of them were going to Edwards."

John scowled. Even when the guy was admitting the truth, he had to wrap it up in a lie. "Looks like we need to do a more intense interrogation of the general," he growled.

"I wouldn't waste my breath," Batman told him. "He'll just run you around like he did this time."

That was when Diana joined the conversation. "I'm assuming you found something relevant to the case?"

The dark-clad man nodded. "I found a record of the Canidite shipments. There were eight transports in total and all were sent to this location."

Well, at least there was some proof about the shipments. At this point, John was certain more had been sent than the eight he was told. Then again, this was the military, which was run by the government. If more was sent off base, that record would be somewhere else."

"Do you think General Lane knows they were sent here?" the Amazon continued.

"It's certainly possible. It's also possible he didn't know where the shipments were actually going. He could've been told to send them to Edwards, but they were instead routed here. I'll have to analyze the data I recovered to make sure none of it was doctored."

"So the Canidite was loaded into a truck, which was then taken here. It was either stored here until a contact picked it up, or the contact was here to received it. From there, sixteen crates of the compound found their way to Midway." John paused to take a breath. "Which means we have sixteen that are unaccounted for."

Batman began moving about the room, the other two heroes watching him as he moved. He came to a stop along the far wall, where he knelt down. He seemed to be inspecting something, going so far as to pick something off the floor and bring up to eye level. "I think it's safe to say the Canidite was stored here for a time."

"What makes you say that?" John asked him.

"There's scuff marks on the floor here," he pointed out. "And they're green, the same shade as the crates."

That made John blink owlishly. How had his ring not picked up on that? Moving over to the vigilante, he noticed some of the sand on the floor was swept aside by Batman's foot, indicating that he had cleaned it himself. While he found it hard to believe his ring could've been fooled by a layer of sand, that seemed to be exactly what happened.

"It's a shame this place is in the middle of nowhere," Diana spoke then, coming to stand behind Batman. "It won't be easy to keep surveillance up without alerting our suspects to our presence."

That was a good point too. It wasn't like there was a CCTV camera conveniently placed here. They would have to station somewhere here to keep an eye on it and that wasn't entirely feasible. If only they could place a satellite…

"What about a satellite?" John suggested. "Could we assign one to this location?"

"It's an option," Batman responded. "We should also look into how many satellites, if any, were in orbit over this location for the last few months. Perhaps we might get lucky and one has footage of our suspects."

"Perhaps we could time our surveillance as well," Diana added. "Does the shipping records show anymore shipments to be made?"

"That's not a bad idea at all," John commended her, earning himself a smile from the Amazon. "It looks to me like we need to go through the records Batman obtained and to check on the satellites."

"I'll leave you two to the satellites," Batman said. "I'm heading back to the Cave to analyze the records. I'll let you know what I find out."

"And we'll do the same. We'll also get an update from Hawkgirl and J'onn on their side of the investigation."

After that, the three left, Batman leaving for Gotham in his jet while Diana and John contacted the Watchtower for transport. They had work to be done, but they had made some good headway on the case.

* * *

For the record, Canidite is not an actual substance. It's been completely made up for this story, so don't expect to find it in comic lore. If there was such a comic book substance, I would've used that instead.

To Guest: You're welcome. Though, things have yet to get too serious yet.


	3. Time To Work

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that Anonymous Void is posting his story today. It's called _Of Earth and Sky_ and you can find it on his account.

* * *

"I'm telling you, there is nothing out there on this Samatra Inc," Hawkgirl said heatedly, her tone rising to dangerous levels.

"And all I'm saying is that it's impossible for an incorporated company to not have some kind of paper trail," John Stewart replied, his own tone beginning to drip with annoyance.

"The one J'onn and I found was barely one at all. Just look at what we found." At this the winged woman indicated the rather paltry amount of sheets of paper on the table. There was maybe a handful—which was being generous—placed in front of the Green Lantern. "There's the incorporation application, but it literally only has the company name on it. It doesn't have an address, contact information, history, who runs the damn thing, nothing. It's almost as if someone rubber stamped it."

"Did you find anything on the history?" Batman asked then, interrupting the brewing conflict. Even through the computer screen, he could tell the two heroes had been irritated with each other, but that didn't mean their dispute had precedent over the case. They could take their fight outside, preferable just outside the airlock.

Because of the work he was doing on his end of the case, Batman was not physically at the meeting. Rather, he was in the Cave, joining in through a wireless signal between the Cave and the Watchtower. Currently, the screen was divided into six different panels, one each of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Diana, and J'onn. The other two were currently blank due to the absence of Superman and Flash. Though the present four were currently in the same room, a camera was broadcasting each Leaguer from a device at the center of the meeting room table.

"Again, not much," the winged woman admitted. "We found they purchased some buildings in various cities, but nothing that would indicate they were doing a wholesale redevelopment of those locations."

"We did find something interesting regarding the properties, though," J'onn spoke up then. "Each one was being auctioned for redevelopment and Sumatra was the highest bidder in every single case."

"It wasn't even a contest either," Hawkgirl added quickly. "You have your standard range of bids, and then Sumatra nearly doubled what ended up being the second highest bid."

So this company had a lot of cash on hand, yet no obvious way it obtained that money. There was dirty money at play, the Dark Knight could practically smell it. "Anything else?"

"Unfortunately, that's about it."

"Where are these properties of theirs?"

The Martian held up a remote, which activated the holographic projector in the table. For Batman, it turned one of the black panels on, a map of the United States filling it with red dots appearing all over the place. Batman was quick to note, to his relief, that Gotham was not one of those dots. However, the ones that did had no rhyme or reason to them from what he could discern.

"There are twenty six properties that we verified," J'onn reported. "Our suggestion is to check and/or monitor these places for illegal activity."

"Agreed," Stewart said, "except I don't think we have the resources for constant monitoring. At the very least we need to search those places."

He paused for a moment. "Which brings us up to our side of the investigation." The Lantern glanced to the vigilante and Diana. "We managed to obtain records about the Canidite. Eight shipments were made from Ferris Air Force Base to a remote location in Nevada. Someone picked up the crates there and delivered four of those shipments to Midway."

"Which leaves four of the shipments unaccounted for," Hawkgirl summed up. "How large were the shipments?"

"Four crates a piece. So we have sixteen crates of this stuff still out there."

"Possibly at the Sumatra properties." Hawkgirl glanced at the rest of the table. "I'm guessing our next order of business is to investigate those properties."

A sharp beeping from the supercomputer sounded off then. "That may have to wait," Batman said as he reached a hand towards the keyboard, tapping a couple of the keys. Another map appeared on the last remaining panel for him, though on the holographic projector at the Watchtower, it would replace the image J'onn had been using. Currently, it was of a bird's eye view of a desert landscape, though there was a small square towards the right side of the screen. There were a couple of other, smaller shapes next to the square.

"That's the shack," John announced, shifting towards the front of his seat. "And it looks like someone is visiting."

Batman hit another key and the image zoomed in, revealing the smaller shapes to be the tops of trucks. There were moving dots as well, people to be exact. None of the people moved to the shack though, instead congregating towards the back of the trucks.

"It looks like they're moving something from one truck to the other," Hawkgirl remarked as she rested her forearms on the table. "Though I don't see any of them going into the shack."

"They may have been alerted to our presence at Farris," J'onn remarked. "That would accounted for the change in behavior."

"Or they just happened to arrive at the same time," the Thanagarian countered.

"It could be anything," Diana said, "but right now they can lead us to their next destination."

"Should we call in Superman and Flash?" J'onn asked.

"I don't think a sting requires the both of them," John was quick to say. "Superman has plans and I doubt we're going to need him for something like this. We'll keep Flash in reserve for the time being as well."

The group fell silent as they continued to watch the image. It took several minutes, but eventually the trucks took off in different directions, one to the west and the other to the northeast."

"Does Sumatra own anything in either of those directions?" Diana quickly asked. Immediately, Hawkgirl grabbed at her report, flipping through the few pages until she found the one she was looking for. She dragged one of her fingers down the page until she came to a stop.

"Elko, Nevada," she announced. "There's a warehouse there on the south side of the city."

"Then that's where we're headed," John declared as he stood up out of his chair.

"I'll keep an eye on our truck to make sure it's going where we think it's going," Batman spoke, not bothering to move out of his chair. "I'll contact you with any changes."

"Sounds good," the Lantern said, just before the vigilante cut the feed. The satellite image then took up the entire computer screen, enlarging the area as well.

Batman watched it for a time, even after the truck he was following reached a highway and continued on its northeastern direction. He didn't bother with the westbound truck since it was in the direction of Ferris. He'd keep a satellite on it just in case though. "Computer, highlight fastest route from subject's vehicle to Elko, Nevada," he commanded. Immediately, the road turned a brilliant purple.

With that done, it was best that he prepare his jet. Though using the Watchtower's teleporter was faster, he much preferred not having his atoms ripped apart and reassembled in an allegedly correct order. Once he was sure the jet was ready, he'd take off.

However, once he turned his chair around, he came to an immediate stop. A few steps away stood Cassandra, dressed in her all-black ensemble she had come to like. Despite the fact that he wore black, the vigilante was starting to wonder if he should encourage the girl to wear other colors. Maybe something with red, or the like.

That thought was pushed aside as the young woman shoved a book in front of his face, causing him to instinctively lean back. It took Batman a moment to realize it was her writing lesson book. It was something he had found to help the girl work on her language skills, or lack thereof. Currently he could make out a jagged scrawl from the pencil Cassandra had used, spelling out words like CAT, HELP, and UP.

Ignoring the handwriting, Batman took the book and studied the page. Though there was a League mission in progress, this was more important. It wasn't like his presence was that necessary at this juncture. He then looked to the girl and said, "Give me your pencil," which she did. He then flipped the page and wrote down WORK. Turning the book around, he then said, "Say the word."

Cassandra stared at him, a serious look on her face. "Wooooo," she said. "Woooooo."

Batman continued to gaze at her.

"Weeeeerrr. Wer...cah. Wercah."

"You're close. Keep trying."

"Weeeeercaah."

This had been the latest word they had been studying and so far it had been tripping her up. It was actually starting to frustrate her with how little progress she had made.

Cassandra had once thrown a fit about it, throwing the book across one of Wayne Manor's many rooms, and stormed off. The dark-clad man had allowed it at the time, though he found that may have been the wrong thing to do. For the next couple of days she resisted her lessons until he tried to draw out the source of her frustration.

For someone in which fighting came so naturally, the fact she was struggling so hard and making so little progress in another was too much for her to handle. She was almost at the point where she would be working on short, simple sentences, but she had yet to master simple, single words. The fear that she would fail was suffocating.

Not for the first time did Bruce feel that maybe he was handling this situation wrong.

The issue came that he didn't trust anyone to not ask questions about the girl, anyone that could genuinely help her anyways. There would be questions about how she got that way, where had Bruce Wayne found her, why he had taken her in. That would inevitably lead into questions that hinted that perhaps he had caused the girl's affliction, especially if he refused to answer. It was just a bad scenario that he wanted to avoid at all costs.

"Wooooork."

Batman perked his head up and Cassandra immediately stopped. "Again," he told her.

"Wooooork."

Faintly, the corner of his mouth twitched up into a small smile, which in turned caused the girl to light up. "Wooork," she tried again. "Woork."

"Keep practicing," he told her. "I have some business with the League tonight, so I'm giving you the night off. When I get back, we'll review."

"Wooork."

Batman stood up, placing a hand on Cassandra's head and patting her. Moving past her, he headed for the jet, the girl continuing her practice.

"Woooork. Wooooooork."

* * *

"You know, we never go out much," Oliver Queen said.

"That's probably because we don't live in the same city," Dinah replied.

"And yet, here you are, Star City, with the creme de la creme of the social scene. It only took, what, twenty calls to get you here?"

Dinah smiled before she took a sip of her champeagne. "Twenty two and you flying your private jet out to pick me up."

Which explained why Dinah Lance was in Star City to begin with. Ever since they first worked together taking down that crazy scientist with the Man-Bat serum—and subsequently learning the other's secret identity—they had kept in touch far more than either blond had expected. Ollie had figured he'd be giving her a few calls before it slipped his mind.

That hadn't happened and for some reason he wasn't sure if it actually would. For some reason he found he rather enjoyed bugging this Gothamite, more so than the socialites he had hobnobbed in Star City.

"You know, when I make two calls, I expect a special service," the blond man muttered to himself. "Forget the actual plane trip."

"Oh, you're expecting a little something sweet?" Dinah asked coyly, which startled him. He hadn't thought he said that that loud.

"Sweets are bad for you," he quickly covered. "Physical exercise, on the other hand, is much healthier for you."

"I'm pretty sure you know what my workout regiment is. I highly doubt anything you bring to the table is going to top that."

"You never know if you don't try."

"Sorry, buster, but I have a rule when it comes to that exercise you're looking for: never before three dates or when Aunt Flo is visiting."

"Oh, you have an Aunt Flo too," Ollie remarked. "That seemed to be a very popular name for parents back in the day. Never realized Flo was such a popular name."

Dinah leveled him with a dubious gaze. "I know you got the reference, don't play dumb."

Had he said that out loud? _Crap. Fix it! Fix it! Be clever! Be...You!_ "Who said I was playing?"

"Rule two: never date dumb guys."

Ollie raised an eyebrow at that. "How long have you had that rule?"

"As of eight seconds ago."

"Fair enough." This time, the blond billionaire drank from his own glass. There were plates on the table too, but the food had long since been consumed. They were just wasting time getting drunk on passable champagne, mostly because the place didn't serve beer and Dinah had refused all of their wine selections. To be honest, a pint would've been nice on this warm night. Maybe this gal was onto something.

"Tell ya what, since it's just the two of us, why don't I show you the city?" Ollie asked her once he set his glass down. "You showed me your town; I'm thinking it's my turn now."

It was Dinah's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I take it that's an exciting time."

"Well, we don't have guys wearing skull masks or lawyers that go nuts with half their faces burned off, but we manage. I'm pretty sure a bunch of your old mob families headed this way; you might recognize a few faces. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Hey, if they didn't come to your city, you wouldn't have an excuse to dress like Robin Hood."

That caused the blond man to roll his eyes. "Everyone goes to the Robin Hood comparison. Why does everyone do that?"

"Oh, I don't know, it might have something to do with the hat. I doubt it's the bow, though. Then there's all that green; I mean, you'd fit so much better in Sherwood Forest than this place." A smirk appeared on the woman's face. "Tell me though, is there a Maid Marian? I don't want to be stepping on a rich girl's expensive shoe."

Damn it, he did it again. His inner monologue was not staying on the inside. Still, those comparisons were getting a bit old. Though, he had to give it to Dinah, the Maid Marian bit was new.

"No, no, there's no Marian," he finally chucked, the fingers of one hand gently rubbing his drinking glass. "This thief hasn't stolen a damsel's heart just yet."

They fell into a comfortable silence then. Neither of them spoke, only moving to take a sip of their disappearing drinks. Ultimately, it was Dinah that broke their silence. "You said something about showing me the town. I think I'll take you up on that."

Ollie raised a hand up, two of his fingers waving to a nearby waiter. "Check, please."

* * *

"You know, one of these days these villains will stop using abandoned warehouses," John said, staring down at said warehouse. "It's pretty much a cliche at this point."

"You do realize that's something Flash would've said," Hawkgirl pointed out.

"Yeah, realized it as soon as I said it," he grumbled. "When is Batman supposed to get here?"

"He's in route," Diana answered him. The four heroes had taken cover on the roof of a nearby building, keeping surveillance on the expected location of their suspects. The Amazon had been keeping in contact with the Dark Knight, whom it seemed had opted for aerial transport rather than the use of their teleporter. It wasn't like he hadn't used it before, but he had a preference for not using it when he had the choice. She found it humorous to say the least.

However, that was delaying his arrival time by hours. While their suspects had yet to arrive, they could do so at any moment. If she was honest, she was becoming anxious at his absence. If the truck arrived here before he did, they would have to go in without him. They were fully capable of storming a meeting of criminals, don't get her wrong, it would just be the following investigation that required his expertise.

In the meantime, she listened to her two comrades converse. "When they do arrive, we're going to need to cut off all of their exits. The dock is our primary one," John said.

"I will ensure their vehicles are inoperable," J'onn volunteered.

"There's also a side entrance as well," Diana pointed out. "I'll ensure there is no escape from that quarter."

John nodded. "Which leaves me and Hawkgirl—"

"Who will take point," the Thanagarian finished for him. She even smirked at the scowl he gave her. Diana couldn't help but smile at their antics. "What? Someone has to."

"Fine, we'll take point," the Green Lantern said. "Knowing Batman, he'll take a less direct approach, so we'll let him do that when he gets here."

"Good planning."

Again, John gave her a look that said he was not amused. Before he could verbally respond, headlights caught his attention, causing him to look away from the winged woman. A truck was pulling up to the warehouse, coming to a stop. Two men in military uniforms jumped out of the back of the truck and hurried around it to the loading dock door, opening it. The truck pulled in with the men following after it, the door shutting itself a few moments later.

"I guess that's our cue," the Green Lantern said. His green aura enveloped his body and he rose off of the ground. "Everyone to their positions."

"Don't you just love it when he tries to take command?" Hawkgirl remarked to Diana. The sarcasm in her winged sister's voice did not escape her.

Diana merely shook her head, a small smile on her face before she took lifted up into the air. Feeling the breeze blow against her face and body, she flew around the warehouse in search of the side entrance she had mentioned earlier, finding it easily. Descending, she landed right in front of the door.

Immediately, she saw a large padlock and chain tightly keep the door locked. The dark-haired woman merely took hold of the lock, staring at it for a moment before she wrapped her fingers around it and squeezed. The metal of the padlock twisted and crumpled beneath her strength. With a jerk, she ripped the deformed lock from the chain, causing the links to slide from the handle and fall to the ground.

Opening the door, the Amazon slipped into the building. She was immediately greeted by large wooden crates, which were optimal for cover. Immediately, she crouched behind them, peeking around them to get a visual of the room. As one would expect, it was a very large room, with long panels of windows that formed a ring along the walls, close towards the ceiling.

There wasn't much in terms of storage, however. While there were a few crates in her area, the rest of the place was wide open. She could clearly see the truck towards the closed dock door, where several men were unloading the familiar green crates. _One...two…_ she mentally counted. _Three...four…_

All four boxes were there, as expected. The uniformed men—ten by her count—carried the boxes further into the room, stopping approximately in the center. Though she followed their movements, she couldn't help but notice J'onn's transparent form phasing through the large door. He never lost his translucency as he disappeared from sight behind the truck. Diana had no doubt the Martian was ensuring the truck was no longer of use. That just left John and Shayera's initial strike.

"Is this all of them?" one of the men asked as he set his box down, receiving a few nods as answer. "What's the next part?"

"Not sure," another replied. "We're supposed to meet someone here, though."

That was when a green light came from one of the long paneled windows and then shattered, sending pieces of glass flying all over the room. The men cried out as they flinched, raising arms up to cover their heads and faces from the shards.

That was when John and Hawkgirl floated through the window, the former casually holding his ring hand out in front of him, the latter with one hand on her hip, her mace held up with one hand with the weapon's head resting on her shoulder. "Sounds like we're the ones you're supposed to meet," John announced cockily.

"Ice 'em!" one man shouted and multiple guns were pulled out. Diana wistfully wondered why Man always fell into the same tactics. She could have predicted the moment the men saw a threat, they would pull out their firearms and begin shooting.

John immediately formed a large, round shield in front of him and Hawkgirl just as the first bullets were fired. Even from where she lay in wait, she could see the sparks as the bullets collided and ricochet off the green construct.

That was when Hawkgirl dropped from the air, doing so headfirst. Her wings flared out and she swooped under the construct, heading right for the gunmen. Holding her mace out in front of her, she began to twirl it in a circle before her face, spinning it faster and faster. Two of the shooters had turned their sights to her the moment they saw her charging at them and opened fired. Bullets clanged off the Nth metal mace until she rammed right into the two, knocking them both off their feet as she swooped by.

That was when Diana stood up from her hiding place, uncoiling her lasso. With practiced ease, she sent the golden rope whipping through the air, it's end wrapping around one of the gunmen's arms. Grasping the lasso tightly with both hands, she then pulled hard on the rope, forcing the man to come flying through the air towards her, screaming as he did so.

Diana ducked to a side, twisting her body as she did so. The man flew by her right where she had been previously standing before colliding with the wall, immediately stopping his yelling. He then dropped to the floor in a heap.

With a flick of her wrist, the golden lasso released the unconscious man, returning to her as it coiled itself in her hand. An alarm went off in her head then, causing the Amazon to whip around, her forearm raised before her. It was excellent timing on her part as a bullet struck her bracer. Immediately, she began moving her arm up and down, turning it at different angles each time as she blocked bullet after bullet as they were fired at her.

That was when Hawkgirl came flying in again, plowing into another gunman, which she wrapped her arms around. She then lifted him right off the floor and carried him away, the guy crying out in surprise. His scream grew louder a moment later as he was dropped to the floor, landing on it hard.

By then, the remaining gunmen were turning their guns onto the two women. This turned into a boon for the heroes as John fired a beam of light, which spread out at a point about their heads. A dome formed from the beam, encircling the men and trapping them inside.

"I highly recommend you don't fire," the Lantern warned them as he floated down towards them. In spite of this warning, the men opened fired. The gunfire was brief as the bullets ricocheted off of the green construct, striking the men in their legs and arms, immediately causing them to either fall to the floor or drop their weapons.

"Told ya."

A shuffling sound caught Diana's ear then. Turning her head, she saw the man Hawkgirl had dropped to floor back on his feet; however, instead of attacking them, he was limping towards the truck as fast as he could go, his head constantly turning to look at the three heroes, then to the truck, then back. During one of his looks, he missed seeing J'onn emerged from the floor a short distance in front of him and to a side.

The Martian then solidified and held out an arm at shoulder height. The fleeing man never saw it as he ran right into the arm and was clotheslined, his legs swinging up before he dropped to the ground on his back again, only this time he didn't get back up.

"Well, that was easy," Hawkgirl commented as she descended to the floor, landing gracefully on her feet. One could see she looked quite bored with the fight, not that Diana blamed her. There had been a lack of stimulation in this encounter.

"Are any of them still conscious?" J'onn asked as he walked towards the group.

John allowed his construct to disappear, allowing access to the six men huddled on the floor, gripping their arms or legs, and in one instance both. "I think there's one or two that could answer a couple of questions."

" _I wouldn't bother with them."_

The four Leaguers froze in place. Heads began turning as eyes searched for the source of the voice. "Who was that?" Hawkgirl demanded as she began to grip her mace tightly.

" _My name is of little consequence to you, Alien,"_ the voice retorted, which only made the Thanagarian scowl. " _Seeing as you all are about to die, it's really a waste of breath."_

"If you're talking about your henchmen, I highly doubt they're going to be the ones to do us in," John responded. "You could say they're all incapacitated."

" _I was expecting as much. Unfortunately for you, I also knew you'd be coming here at some point, or another, so I made a few arrangements. As you are aware, I have the experimental Canidite in my possession. Thanks to you, I do not have nearly as much as I did three days ago."_

"You're very welcome," Hawkgirl replied snarkily.

"There!" J'onn exclaimed as he pointed a finger. Following the Martian's gesture, Diana soon saw a loudspeaker hanging from the wall. So that was the source of the voice.

" _Because of your intrusion, I've had to take certain steps: for instance, the very building you are standing in is set to explode in the next sixty seconds. While I have no doubt you will be able to escape the blast, most likely with my men in your care, there is a small complication for you. It has come to my attention that someone has tried to gain access to a few properties that I own. Because of your interference, they too are wired to explode, with the Canidite no less. You have one hour to disarm these bombs, or the Continental U.S. will experience a panic not unlike the 9/11 attacks._

" _By my watch, you know have thirty seconds to escape and defuse my bombs. Good luck."_

"I've got these men," John roared as his ring came to life. Tendrils of green light fired out in all direction, racing towards the wounded and unconscious men and forming green bubbles around them.

Diana then shot up into the air, both of her fists out in front of her. As fast as she could, she raced up to the ceiling and burst through it, leaving a large hole in her wake. Hawkgirl and J'onn followed her through the hole with John bringing up the rear, his collection of gunmen following behind them.

The moment they were out in open air, the four took off flying as fast as they could. They may have gotten a couple of blocks before the warehouse erupted into a ball of flames, a thunderous roar blasting out. The force of the explosion plowed into the heroes from behind, pushing them further through the air as they fought for control.

Turning around as she slowed to a stop, Diana stared in awe at the large fireball, a thick cloud of smoke rising up into the night's sky. _Great Hera!_

"That crazy son of a bitch!" John shouted. "He wired that place with Canidite!"

"Which means he wasn't bluffing," Hawkgirl replied. "We need to find those bombs of his— _now._ " She then looked to J'onn. "J'onn, can you return to the Watchtower and search that list of properties? Those are the only places we're going to find bombs."

"I can," the Martian said.

"Also get it touch with Flash and Superman," John told him. "We're going to need their speed for this, so the sooner the better. Contact Batman as well and inform him of what's going on."

"Understood."

"Hawkgirl," the Lantern then turned his attention to the winged woman. "Are there any possible locations you can remember? Any in this region?"

The Thanagarian fell into deep thought. "I think there's one in Carson City. Pretty sure there's one or two in California as well. We can start with those."

"I'll get the one in Carson City," John volunteered, "right after I drop these guys off. You and Diana start making your way to California. When J'onn gets his hands on the list, he can give you additional directions."

Without waiting for additional instruction, Diana began flying west, Hawkgirl catching up with her a second later. This was not the mission the Amazon had expected, but there was no choice but to adapt. If they didn't, there was no telling how this country would react to a series of what would appear to be terrorist attacks.

Of course, these wouldn't be normal bombs either. Aside from the material used to make them, their distance from populated areas was also a concern. If any of these bombs were close to civilian populations, the number of casualties would be devastating. She would do everything within her power to stop it.

The Justice League would ensure it.

* * *

To Guest: So far I wouldn't say so. Could be coincidence.


	4. Bombs Across America

Dark clouds blotted out the sky. The moon was barely visible as it entered a break in the clouds. Yet, the moment it was starting to be revealed, it was just as quickly disappearing as the next cloud began to cover it.

Batman was somewhere around the edge of the Eastern Time Zone, on the verge of entering the Central Time Zone. He was beginning to have second thoughts on this mode of transportation. It wasn't the first time he had used the jet for long distance travel, but never had it occurred when a mission was in progress and he needed to be at a specific location as quickly as possible. A part of him was contemplating just accessing the Watchtower transporter and beam himself to where he needed to go.

Of course, before he thought that far, he received an incoming communication. "Batman, here," he answered.

" _Batman, this is J'onn J'onnz,"_ the Martian Manhunter replied. " _We have a situation."_

Damn it, why hadn't he used the transporter? Goddamn pride. "What's the situation?" he asked calmly.

" _We've just been informed that a series of bombs have been planted throughout the United States."_ That very statement caused the blood in the vigilante to freeze. " _Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman are currently in route to three of the locations."_

"Do we know how many there are?" the Dark Knight demanded.

" _Negative. Our only intel is that they are located in buildings owned by the Sumatra company."_

That caused the dark-clad man to frown. Something had happened in Elko, that much he was certain. "How did you come across this intel?" he asked then.

" _It would seem the mastermind behind the Canidite shipments was watching us,"_ J'onn answered, which only set his teeth on edge. They must have slipped up somewhere, though how he wasn't sure. It could've been from the beginning when Lantern and Hawkgirl found the first missing shipments, or it could've been when he and his team investigated Ferris Air Force Base or that shack in Nevada. There were too many possibilities to ignore.

" _After Green Lantern and the others apprehended the transport vehicle, we were informed by the suspect that he had rigged multiple properties he owned with his supply of Canidite,"_ the Martian continued, oblivious to the vigilante's thoughts, or so he thought. However, his attention was definitely earned at the mention of the Canidite being used. " _I am currently on the Watchtower attempting to identify the locations we need to investigate."_

That wasn't a bad idea at all. "I'm currently in Indiana, about to enter Illinois," Batman informed the Martian. "Are there any possibles in my area?"

There was silence on the line as J'onn checked the list. Then, " _I believe there may be a bomb in nearby Gary. How far away are you from there?"_

Immediately, Batman jerked the piloting stick to a side, the jet turning to the left as he made a U-turn. "I can be there in ten minutes," he informed his comrade. "What's the address?"

* * *

John Stewart felt his stomach drop.

The property in Carson City wasn't some warehouse, or abandoned building on the outskirts of town. It was an apartment complex that was currently undergoing renovation. There was a large white sign in front of it that proclaimed it was owned by Sumatra Inc, with a picture of what the building was going to look like once construction was complete.

Seeing as the building was right in the middle of a residential area, the explosion would be catastrophic.

Aiming his ring at the building, he projected a green light much like the one had had used to search the shack in the desert. The difference though, was this one was large enough to cover the entire building. Before his eyes, the exterior walls faded away and he saw right into the apartment complex. While it wasn't Superman's x-ray vision, it would do just fine. He could see building materials, paint cans, and power tools scattered throughout the building, but no bomb. Focusing his will, he searched deeper into the structure.

 _There._ Towards the lower levels, he found a large device that clearly didn't fit in with the rest of the construction equipment. In fact, it was right in the basement. At first he found that curious, but then his knowledge of bombs and explosives came to him. By putting the bomb in an enclosed area, that would in effect increase the explosive power of the bomb. This apartment complex would crumble from the explosion, but not before sending large chunks of itself at its neighbors.

Not bothering with being gentle, the Green Lantern flew head first at the building, firing a green blast from his ring to create a hole in a wall. The moment he was on the inside, he came to a stop and aimed his ring at the floor beneath him. Again, he fired another blast, this one he made strong enough to go through several floors until it reached the bottom. Seeing his handiwork, he then descended through the successive holes until he arrived in the basement.

The moment he entered the mostly-dark room, he flared his green aura to brighten the area, revealing the bomb. It was a long cylinder which laid on it long side. There were stands on each side of the bomb, holding up off the floor. Conveniently, there was a small, digital clock face on it, reading 50:27. Then 50:26.

Kneeling in front of it, John noticed lines that formed a rectangle on the bomb's surface. Powering up his ring, he fired a small, thin laser beam, which slipped into the crack. He traced the rectangular shape with the small beam as sharp crackle sounds were made; once he completed that task, he then dug his fingertips into the crevice. This helped him pull the section off, revealing a small bar of Canidate with detonators inserted to it like it was a piece of C-4. There were wires connected to the detonators, forming a large, tangled mess.

Now which wire did he cut?

"Justice League, this is Lantern," he said into his comm link. "I'm at the first bomb and it's rather complicated. I've got a piece of the Canidite in it with a few detonators attached. There a hell of a lot of wires in it too."

Thankfully he received an answer quickly. " _Can you tell what sort of detonators there are?"_ Batman asked him.

"Don't know their name, but they're long and rod-shaped. Looks like ones you'd find in a C-4 explosive."

There was a moment of silence. " _Describe the wires. What colors are they?"_

"Green, red, white, blue, yellow, and a yellow-and-black strip," John answered him.

" _Can you tell me if you see a red handle in the bomb design?"_

John frowned as his eyes searched. To the left and right, he saw something that looked like those handles the vigilante was talking about. "I see two of them, one on each side," he reported.

" _Listen carefully: remove both red handles at the same time. If even one of them is pulled out faster than the other, you risk detonating the bomb."_

 _Oh, well that was problematic._ "Give me a moment," he said into the comm as he prepared himself for the task at hand. Carefully, he reached out to the handles, his fingers wrapping around them. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he slowly began to pull them up. At first the one on the right was going faster, so he stopped for a moment to let the left one catch up. Then he got a little too far with the left so he had to get the right one caught up. Faintly, John was aware of a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face as he managed to get both handles going at roughly the same rate.

And then they both stopped moving at the same time. Eyes darting from one handle to the other, he slowly began to realize they were both at the same height. The Green Lantern's breath blew out in relief. "Okay, I have the handles out; what's next?"

" _Cut the wires in the following order: Red, blue, yellow-and-black stripe."_ There was a pause before Batman continued, " _Green."_

John frowned. That accounted for four of the six wires, and that pause he had heard made it sound like the dark-clad man was working this out in real time. "Don't tell me you're working this out at the same time," he said over the comm.

He didn't get a reply and that was all the confirmation he needed. To be honest, he was starting to wonder how the man knew what steps to take in defusing the bomb; this answered that. In fact, a couple moments later, Batman finished off his list, " _White and then yellow."_

"Just to confirm, the sequence is red, blue, yellow-and-black stripe, green, white, and yellow," John repeated. The last thing he wanted to do was to get the order wrong.

" _That's correct."_

"Well, here goes nothing." Pointing his ring at the wires, he created a wire cutter construct and lowered it to where each wire connected with a detonator. First he snipped the red wire, then the blue.

So far so good, no explosion. Next went the yellow-and-and black strip, then the green. _Almost there._ White was cut and lastly the yellow.

He heard a sharp _beep_ , which caused him to freeze. Looking around the room, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Returning his attention to the bomb, he then noticed the digital clock had stopped counting. Excellent, that was another bomb down.

"I've disabled the bomb," he reported immediately, reaching into the device and grabbing the Canidite. The last thing he wanted to do was leave it behind. Removing it from the bomb, he held onto it tightly as he then lifted up into the air, flying through the hole in the ceiling. "I've recovered the Canidite too. J'onn, tell me where the next location is."

The Martian didn't answer him until he had exited the apartment complex. " _I need you to head East,"_ J'onn told him. " _You'll be heading to Colorado Springs."_

"Copy that, Colorado Springs," he repeated as he accelerated his speed. "Where's Batman headed? I don't want to have too many hands in one place."

" _Batman is heading to Detroit."_ Those words caused John's stomach to drop. His free hand tightened into a fist at the thought of this madman leaving a bomb in his hometown. Yet, if there was someone that he could trust to defuse the bomb, it was definitely Batman. " _I also have called Flash in. He's covering Missouri. He has already defused the bomb in Central City and is already working on the one in St. Louis."_

"And the girls?"

* * *

Diana stared down at the bomb.

She was currently at the harbor in Crescent City in Northern California. Hawkgirl had gone to San Francisco to deal with the bomb there.

The Amazon had overheard the conversation between John and Batman and the instructions given to defuse the bomb. While she had no doubt that was the correct sequence to deactivate the bomb, there was a part of her that felt there was an easier way to do things.

" _Hey, Diana,"_ Hawkgirl's voice came up in her ear. " _You heard that transmission, right?"_

"I did," she answered, a hand pressed up against her comm link.

" _Tell me, am I the only one that's thinking how convoluted it is."_

That caused Diana to smile. Trust her fellow sister to follow with her line of thinking. "You are not the only one," she informed her.

" _So, got any ideas how to shorten this up?"_

Unfortunately, no she did not. Even now she was watching the digital timing ticking down from 48:56 to 48:55...48:54. While there was plenty of time for this bomb, the more time she spent with it was the less time she had with the others. Eyeing the ocean through the window of the harbor's control tower, she toyed with the idea of simply throwing the bomb out to sea.

"One moment, Sister," she told Hawkgirl before she addressed a different comm. "Batman, are there any motion sensors on these bombs?"

There was silence for a moment before the Gothamite replied, " _As far as the one I've seen, negative."_

Diana smirked right before she grabbed her bomb on its sides. Picking it up, she then dashed for the doorway, lifting off into the air. She flew up and towards the ocean, stopping when she could barely make out the buildings at the harbor. Spinning around to pick up speed, Diana then let out a yell before she throw the bomb as hard as she could towards the horizon. She watched long enough to see it splash into the water and disappear beneath its surface.

"Hawkgirl, I believe I've found another solution," she immediately informed the winged woman. "The bomb does not have a motion sensor and I've disposed of it in the ocean without triggering it."

" _Diana, have I ever told you how much I like your solutions?"_ the Thanagarian told her.

"I believe you just have." The Amazon then switched over frequencies. "J'onn, I'm finished in Crescent City. Where's the next bomb?"

" _Head north to South Bend, a city on the coast of Washington,"_ J'onn answered her. " _The bomb there will be at a ship construction business, Seavoyager's Boats and Yachts."_

Which would naturally be on the coast, hopefully. If it was indeed there, she could toss that one out to sea as well. Taking off to the north, hands out in front of her, the Amazon headed for her next objective.

* * *

Flash thought he would find his next bomb in a trailer park. At least, that's what he had been informed by J'onn when he had been given the location. A quick search of the place came up empty and he told his Martian buddy about this. He was rewarded with another possible location.

"The things I do for my country," he muttered as he zoomed through the countryside. For once he thought he was going to have a quiet evening. He had even made plans! Sixteen boxes of everything-but-the-anchovies pizzas, a monster movie marathon on the tube, and he had the next day off from his day job. It had all of the elements of a perfect evening of doing nothing.

So of course as he was chowing down on his second box of pizza, he got the call from his favorite Martian that they had a situation with bombs. Very powerful, very dangerous bombs. And he was trading away his marathon for that good ol' time.

"At least I got TVoe recording Godzilla vs Mothra."

He was currently somewhere in the badlands of South Dakota, heading towards the border with North Dakota. Apparently this Sumatra company owned some oil drilling outfit and that was just asking for a bomb. Oil with high-powered explosives, that was a powder keg ready to blow.

And he found the place in seconds. Immediately, he searched the oil field, finding the bomb in a nice, long crate next to one of the oil pumps. The giant pump was at work, one end slowly rising up as the other fell before switching off. It was like a seesaw except each end pulled on a cable that did something underground. Flash wasn't too well-versed in the oil business.

Pulling off the lid to the bomb and seeing the all-too familiar sight of wires and detonators, he took his time pulling up the red handles. He was starting to get faster at it, but that was the one point where he could screw up still. Hearing a clicking sound as both handles reached the max height, he then sped up his work, his hand a blur as he pulled out the wires in the correct sequence. He watched the clock stop ticking at 41:37, a beep ringing out before the digital numbers vanished.

"That's five down," he said out loud, though there wasn't anyone around to hear him. Securing the Canidite, he then stood up and contacted J'onn. "Hey, J'onn, buddy, I got the one in the Dakotas. Where's the next one?"

" _I'm going to need you in Florida, Flash,"_ came the Martian's response. Before he even said the town, Flash was already running. Though, considering how he had been given bomb locations close to each other, he found this new one to be a little different.

"Any reason why you want me to go further than two states?" he asked.

" _There are two more bombs in the Central Time Zone,"_ J'onn told him. " _However, Green Lantern can get those in a reasonable about of time. "Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are finishing the west coast and will be done shortly."_

 _Of course they will be,_ Flash groused in his head. He had heard—hell, everyone had heard—their little chat about throwing the bombs into the ocean. That was a cop out if you asked him. Here he was, taking the time to disable the bombs and what do they do? Pollute the ocean with a metal canister filled with explosives. The environment was important too, ya know.

Then again, Flash did wish he could just toss the bombs he found away without having to worry about disarming it. He could just as easily dump a bomb and be done with it in a second versus taking the sixty it took him to actually deactivate it. You could say he was a little jealous.

" _You are heading for Tampa. The bomb should be in a stadium there. I believe it is one that is decorated with pirates."_

"Really? A football stadium?" Flash exclaimed, though he hadn't activated his comm link to respond. "Of all the stadiums, they had to choose Tampa? What? They couldn't get access to Foxborough? Dallas? Heck, they should've gone with Cleveland, at least it would've been considered community service."

Though, it did raise some questions. For instance, how did Sumatra get ownership of a professional football team's stadium? That question was answered shortly after. When Flash arrived, he noticed some construction was going on and wouldn't you know it, it was being done by Sumatra Inc. That at least explained how it got access.

 _Now let's find that bomb._

* * *

Batman clipped the yellow wire, finishing off the latest bomb at 27:00 even. With the Canidite in hand, he left the bomb behind as he left the building, heading for his jet.

Raising a hand up to his cowl, he contacted the Watchtower. "How are we doing, J'onn?"

" _I would say extremely well,"_ the Martian answered him. " _The last remaining bombs are on the eastern seaboard and Flash has just arrived in Florida. The others are in route."_

That was excellent. "Where's the nearest bomb from my location?"

There was a pause, which wasn't too unexpected. Whenever J'onn had relayed those directions, he usually made sure he was giving them something close by. However, as the time passed by, he was becoming concerned.

" _Batman, I am not seeing anything within twenty minutes of your location,"_ J'onn eventually informed him. " _There is one you're the closest too, but the time it would take for you to arrive would only give you two, maybe three minutes to disarm the bomb."_

"That's plenty of time," Batman replied confidently. He had reached his black jet and was climbing in, settling himself in the pilot's seat. Two minutes was more than enough time to disarm the bomb. "Give me the coordinates and I'll get it."

" _Are you sure?"_ J'onn pressed. " _I can have Flash take care of it."_

"How many bombs are left?" the Dark Knight countered.

Again, there was silence before, " _I am counting possibly ten more properties that need to be checked."_

"Then nine of them Flash and the others can search. We need to disarm as many of these bombs as we can. I rather have one bomb go off versus three or four."

" _Understood. Head for Erie, Pennsylvania. I believe if you cut across the lake, you should be able to reach the bomb in time."_

"Copy that, Batman out."

* * *

" _This is Green Lantern, I have another bomb defused."_

That was another one off their list. Though the Watchtower had state of the art technology, which was most impressive when compared to the technology observed on Earth, it was traditional pen and paper that was keeping up with this situation.

J'onn crossed off the Keystone City property. Only the eastern side of the United States had any bomb threats. Flash had also reported another defused bomb only mere moments earlier, which left eight more locations. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl were in route to three of them and Flash should already be at his next destination any second now.

Glancing to a nearby clock, the Martian mentally calculated less than fourteen minutes to go on the last remaining bombs, however many there were left. He was taking no chances with all of the possible locations and he'd rather have someone check a false alarm than skip an immanent threat.

So far, the Justice League was performing admirably, even without one of their fastest members. J'onn had tried multiple times to hail Superman, but his comm link was most likely off. Strange though, that he had not heard the rest of the League with this super-hearing. Regardless, they were nearly finished with their current crisis and further attempts at contacting the Kryptonian would only delay their efforts.

"How soon can you get to Philadelphia?" he asked his colleague.

" _Ten minutes, maybe? I'm already airborne,"_ came John Stewart's response.

"Then you better hurry. We have approximately thirteen minutes left," J'onn urged him.

" _Roger that. I'll make it in eight."_

" _Hey, J'onn!"_ Flash suddenly transmitted.

The Martian tiled his head up. The Flash's tone seemed urgent. "Go ahead, Flash," he said.

" _I've cleared this dump you sent me to. I got bupkis. What's next?"_

Immediately, J'onn crossed off another property. Looking up to a nearby computer screen, there was a map of the North American Continent, zoomed in on the United States. He could see Green Lantern over the Pennsylvania region with Batman hovering over Lake Erie. The Dark Knight wasn't as close to his destination as he would have liked, but the green-skinned man mentally calculated he would arrive just in time.

Wonder Woman had been sent to Boston and was just about there. Hawkgirl was closing in on Charlotte, which was the nearest location to Flash. Returning his attention to the list, he noticed the remaining bombs were in the New England region.

Perhaps he could cheat a little bit and get Flash to start on the northernmost properties. "Bangor, Maine," he informed Flash.

" _On my way."_ A pause. " _Are there any in my general path? I might as well get those on my way up."_

Though that wasn't part of his plan, J'onn could see no fault in the request. "There's also one in Albany, New York," he added.

" _Albany and then Bangor, got it."_

Before a second passed, Diana then spoke, " _I've cleared the one in Boston,"_

Excellent, they were nearly through. As he began to check the list, the Martian frowned. If he wasn't mistaken, there was another Boston location. It was the only duplicated city on the list if he wasn't mistaken. "Remain in Boston," he immediately said. "There's a property in the northernmost sector of the city. I'm sending the coordinates through your comm link."

" _Understood, I'm on my way."_

That seemed way too convenient. Quickly, J'onn began running through the list, ignoring his check marks at the ones that had bombs defused, or none at all. A couple minutes passed before he had completed his search and found that Boston was the only city that had two possible bombs.

He highly expected this second place would lack a bomb.

" _Chalk up another bomb gone,"_ Hawkgirl suddenly said, throwing off his concentration. " _What's next?"_

J'onn checked the list and found that all current properties were accounted for, with Leaguers in route, or working on the bombs themselves. Seeing as Hawkgirl was too far away to assist the others, there was no point in sending her anywhere else. "Return to the Watchtower," he told her. "You are too far out to offer assistance to the others."

" _Roger that, J'onn."_

J'onn found himself looking to Batman's tracer. It didn't look like it had moved at all, which was becoming alarming to him. Perhaps he should have Hawkgirl beam up to the Watchtower and then to Erie. That was the best course of action, yet, he was reluctant to upset the vigilante. In all the time they had interacted, there was a prideful streak in the man's character. Perhaps he should check for an ETA.

"Batman, what is your location?"

* * *

"Landing," Batman replied as his jet set down on the ground. He was slightly annoyed by the Martian Manhunter's call, but he couldn't fault the man's concern. They were pushing it time-wise.

As the canopy slid forward, the Dark Knight leapt out of the plane, landing on the ground. Before him was an abandoned factory, rundowned after years of disuse and lack of maintenance.

Quickly, he hurried to the building. He didn't bother using a door, mostly because he didn't see one along this side of the building. However, there were windows. Firing his grapple above them, he soared into the air, leaning backwards as he swung his feet at the last second. His feet crashed into the glass and caused it to shatter, the dark-clad man landing hard on a catwalk.

As pieces of glass scattered across the walkway and even fell over its edge, Batman surveyed the room, finding it quite large and filled with large machines. Many were rusted over, again from a lack of maintenance, which gave the place a rather haunted look. Peering down the nearby aisles the giant machines made, he saw no sign of the bomb.

Walking down the catwalk as it followed the wall, he soon spotted a doorway with something situated next to it. Seeing as he had a clear look down a pathway between machines, he eyeballed their positions to make sure they were far enough away from each other. Judging that they were, Batman then climbed onto the railing and jumped into the air. Activating the electric current in his gauntlet, he grabbed his cape and felt it stiffen into its glider mode.

He glided towards the door, passing right by the machinery with ease. However, as he drew closer, he realized there was a body seated by the doorway. Releasing his cape, his momentum carried him several feet through the air until he landed on his feet on the floor, a few feet away from his destination.

Batman's face hardened. There was a man with his back against the wall, legs sprawled out in front of him. His torso was slumped, arms hanging limply at his sides. Cautiously, he approached the person, eyeing the dark bodysuit he wore. Even more concerning was the lack of movement by the man.

By the time he reached him, Batman came to the conclusion this man was either unconscious or dead. The lack of the chest expanding and contracting hinted at the latter. The vigilante took a knee next to the man as he examined the scene.

One thing he found curious was the headgear this man wore. It was very much a mask, though there were two small horns extending upward. It was reminiscent of his own mask in some ways, though that was as far as it went. There were no lens in the eyeholes and he could just make out the whites of the man's eyeballs. Reaching a hand up, he pulled the mask off.

Immediately, he hissed at the sight. Oh yes, this man was dead. There were dark lines covering his lower face, especially concentrated around the mouth. It was a telltale sign of cyanide poisoning.

Which meant the bomb had to be close by. Pulling the mask back on the corpse, Batman then stood up and moved to the door. Grabbing the knob, he turned it and pushed the door open.

The room was small and dark, though the moonlight from the larger room's windows allowed some semblance of light in. Batman saw the bomb in plain sight, sitting on a small folding table.

He also saw the timer flashing 0:05...0:04...0:03…

"Oh—"

* * *

The bomb apparatuses are designed after the ones the Joker used in the Justice League episode, _Wild Card._ I needed to come up with a design and found that one to be very much available lol.

To (1st) Guest reviewer: Thanks!

To (2nd) Guest reviewer: Can't say they're getting caught up with this right now. Maybe later though.


	5. He's Gone

John Stewart was closing in on the last bomb location. He had discovered no bomb in Philadelphia and had reported as much to J'onn. The Martian had requested he head to Erie as backup for Batman. The man was in route, but there were questions if he would arrive there in time.

Seeing the logic, the Green Lantern had made his way northwest. Presently, he was within seeing distance of the abandoned factory, the place growing larger as he closed in on it.

Then out of nowhere, it exploded with a deafening roar. John had a deja vu from Elko as the entire factory was consumed in flames, the force of the explosion slamming right into him and throwing him back a good distance away. He even let out a yell of surprise as he careened through the air. He got control of himself shortly after, managing to hover in midair.

 _Damn it all._ After all the work they had put in, one managed to go off. While it was better than having multiple explosions throughout the country, seeing just one go off was frustrating. Staring as the remains of the factory collapsed in on itself, a cloud of black smoke rising into the air, he then reached a hand up to his ear to activate his comm link.

"J'onn, the Erie plant blew up," he reported. "As far as I can tell, there was no one on site."

He got an immediate response from the Martian. " _I was informed by Batman that he was landing a few minutes ago. I'll hail his comm, but I need you to do a sweep of the area."_

A sinking feeling filled his stomach. Batman had arrived already? "Copy that," he responded before he flew towards the scene. Reaching a parking lot that surrounded the former factory, his green eyes immediately found something black. Descending to the ground, he soon discovered it was the Batjet, a large chunk of cement lying on top of it, crushing the plane to the ground. It was clear it was beyond operational, what with the cockpit beneath the debris that had to have been thrown by the explosion. The wings were bent upwards, almost as if they were trying to wrap around the rubble.

Looking to the burning inferno that raged in the factory, John steeled his face. Batman was definitely here. He hoped against hope the man hadn't been inside the building when it had exploded, but in this line of work, he feared the vigilante had been.

"J'onn, I've found the Batjet," he said into his comm link. "It's completely totaled; however, I haven't seen any sign of Batman."

He had to wait a few seconds before he received a reply. " _I am currently unable to raise Batman as well,"_ J'onn replied, which wasn't what the Lantern wanted to hear. " _I will continue to hail him, but I fear the worst."_

"While you're doing that, alert the local PD, firefighters, and emergency response teams," John ordered. "Inform them of the situation; I'll make sure the area is safe for their teams. There's no telling what was made at this factory and if there were any chemicals, we'll have to make sure they're appropriately prepared."

" _Understood. Martian Manhunter, out."_

John sighed. He could feel it in his gut; he knew what he didn't want to find, but he just knew he wasn't going to get his wish. Steeling his nerves, he then shot headfirst into the flames.

* * *

Clark tugged at the knot around his neck, undoing his tie as he entered his apartment. In his hand was a small plaque, one that stated that Clark Kent was the winner of the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics. It was a proud night for him.

In fact, he wasn't alone. Right behind him, Lois and Jimmy entered his apartment, the former coolly while the latter was clearly exuberant. "This is so cool, Clark," Jimmy told him for what had to be the fifteenth time. "We have to celebrate!"

"Be careful what you wish for," Lois warned the redhead. "Smallville here is probably packing some moonshine around this place. I don't think your constitution would handle it."

"Whatever," Jimmy replied, not the least bit put off. It showed just how used he was to the dark-haired woman's barbs that he could roll with them. One had to if they were going to work with the fiery reporter. "I'll drink anything as long as it's wet."

"Not a good idea," Clark said gently, placing the plaque down on his kitchen counter. His tie soon joined it as he began to pull off his suit jacket. "You have to drive home and you know the city's been cracking down on drunk driving."

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen the billboards. 'Buzzed Driving is the same as Drunk Driving.' That's why you're here. If I drink too much, you can drive me home!"

That caused both Clark and Lois to raise an eyebrow at the young man. It seemed Jimmy had begun to enjoy the spirits after he had turned 21, granted that was a few years ago. He was clearly acting like someone that had just become legal a day ago. Either that, or they didn't really know how he was outside of the office.

It seemed they were going to have to have a serious talk with the boy.

"You do realize it's rude to make your host drive you home, right?" Lois pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, if I was Clark, I'd throw you out into the hall before we even toast him."

"But you're not Clark," Jimmy quickly said. "I'm sure he'd let me crash on his couch if worst came to worst."

Lois looked to the dark-haired man, eyeing him for a moment. "I think you're right about Mr. Ethics here," she grumbled.

Clark just shook his head at the two's antics. He was sure no one was going to get to the point they needed to crash in his apartment. They were all professionals after all. Hanging his jacket on the back of a chair, he moved over to his television and turned it on. It wasn't so much that he was ignoring his guests as much as he wanted something in the background playing. It helped to drown out the sounds from outside of his apartment. It was pure habit at this point. The pomp and music from the ceremony had helped to block out his super-hearing; the television would just be taking up where the ceremony left off.

Of course, he wasn't expecting the first picture on the screen to be of a building spilling smoke into the air.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Lois asked as she seemed to magically appear next to him. Clark looked to the banners at the bottom of the screen, seeing one that proclaimed BREAKING NEWS. Beneath that one, he read BOMBING IN ERIE, PA.

" _...all emergency responders are on scene,"_ the reporter was saying as soon as the audio kicked in. " _For those of you now joining us, an explosion rocked the quiet city of Erie tonight. Though Erie PD has yet to comment on the cause, it is highly suspected an explosive of some kind, maybe a bomb, was involved."_

"Damn, is it another terrorist attack?" Jimmy asked as he came to stand on the other side of Clark.

"Not sure," the dark-haired man responded. _Erie…_ his mind wondered. If he wasn't mistaken, that was in the direction of Lake Erie, which coincidentally would've put the place somewhere beyond the wall in front of him. Activating his X-ray vision, he saw through the wall and then beyond the skyline of Metropolis. Countryside rushed before his eyes, the occasional town or city flashing by until his vision reached Erie, where he immediately placed the smoke.

Focusing more, the burning building was right in front of his eyes. There were firefighters everywhere, spraying water on the blaze, much like the picture the television was showing. He couldn't make heads or tails of what caused the explosion due to the raging fire, so he backed off slightly.

He then scanned the rest of the scene until he finally caught sight of something. A short distance away from the building was a black vehicle, twisted and broken beneath a piece of debris. Because of the damage, it was hard to make out what it was previously, but he had a feeling he knew what it was beforehand.

"Any second, Perry's gonna be calling us in on this," Lois remarked, breaking off Clark's concentration as the scene of Erie faded from his sight and his apartment reappeared before him. "I'll be heading to the Planet." She made to walk to the door, but stopped after one step. "Congratulation on your award, Clark," she said to him before taking off.

"I'll be right behind you, Lois," Clark replied, turning his head to follow the dark-haired woman. A gasp from Jimmy caused both of them snap their heads towards him.

"Holy cow!" he exclaimed, pointing right at the television. Quickly looking back, Clark just barely caught sight of something emerging from the burning flames, glowing green. _John._ The Green Lantern was flying through the air, a green bubble construct trailing behind him.

"The Justice League is involved?" Clark exclaimed. That was the only thing that made sense to him, especially if John was at the scene. Sure, the Green Lantern did foil local crimes, but he had an entire sector of space to patrol; he was more involved in bigger situations.

"There's a story here," Lois breathed, her nose twitching with anticipation. "Last one back to the Planet loses the story!"

"See you there, Clark!" Jimmy said to him before he took off running after Lois.

In the meantime, Clark just stood in front of the television, his hands beginning to unbutton his shirt. It seemed he was definitely going to need a change of clothes.

* * *

The smell was pungent.

After everything that had happened tonight, that was the thought dominating John's mind. It wasn't the first time he had smelled the odor of a freshly burnt corpse. He had been in battlefields littered with blood, guts, bullets, and fire, and seen all manner of wounds a person could receive, from cuts, bullet holes, burns, chemical burns...the list went on. Yet, for some reason, this smell was all he could think about.

The doors to the room slid open and the Green Lantern instinctively turned to look towards them, seeing Superman entering the room. There was a slight frantic look in his eyes, as if he were seeking reassurance. "What happened?" was all he asked.

John found himself looking to a seated J'onn. The Martian had been in the chair ever since he had finished his examination. Hands clasped together in front of his face, elbows propping his arms up on his thighs as he leaned forward, he hadn't moved an inch until the Kryptonian had arrived.

Seeing as J'onn wasn't going to answer their friend, John sighed. It looked like it would fall to him. "We had an emergency tonight," he began. There was no hitch in his voice, not that he thought there would be one. He did find himself swallowing a little more than usual, though. "A series of bombs had been planted throughout the U.S. using the Canidite we uncovered."

"Why wasn't I called in on this?" Superman demanded, squaring his shoulders as he came to stand before the two heroes. It was classic alpha male behavior, though John didn't let it get to him. He remained with his back leaned up against a wall, arms crossed over his chest.

However, it was J'onn who answered him this time. "We tried to raise you earlier in the evening, but were unable to reach you. I believe your communication device was off."

The dark-haired man stared at J'onn for a moment before he slowly nodded his acceptance. The Green Lantern couldn't help but notice how his nose would wrinkle every so often, coinciding with every breath he took. He was definitely smelling the smell. "What happened then?"

"After calling in Flash, the six of us went about defusing the bombs with J'onn coordinating everything from the Watchtower," John explained. "We managed to defuse all but one of the bombs."

"The one that went off in Erie?"

"Right."

There was a pause. "I saw on the news you leaving the scene. It looked like you were carrying something."

John couldn't help but close his eyes, his head hanging for a moment. "One of us was in the building when it exploded." Ignoring the horror that warped Superman's face, John pushed himself off the wall and turned to his side. There was a small, square door with a handle right next to where he had stationed himself. Grabbing the handle and twisting it, he then pulled out a sliding gurney.

If the smell was powerful earlier, it was damn near overwhelming now. On the gurney was the charred remains of Batman. Parts of his costume had been consumed in the fire, leaving only a few pieces of the suit left, such as a part of his infamous cowl. His face and most of his body had been burnt beyond recognition, which had made visual confirmation impossible. Fingerprints and footprints were also unavailable, mostly because his feet had been burned right off and there was too much damage to the fingers—the ones that remained anyway—to get a good set of prints.

One could say this wasn't Batman if not for the costume. However, there was one last avenue available to them to check and they had received the results of it moments before Superman had come storming into the morgue. The dental records they received after getting an impression were a match for Bruce Wayne. It was almost a miracle that they got even those considering half of the man's face had been burnt to the bone.

Slowly, Superman approached the body, coming to a stop in front of it. He rose a shaky hand that hovered over the body, almost as if he wanted to touch it, but didn't. "All this…" he spoke softly, devastatingly. "All this...because I wanted a night off…"

"This was not your fault," J'onn immediately spoke, startling the two men. In fact, the Martian stood up from his chair and came to stand next to Superman, his eyes never once moving from Batman. "It is mine."

That seemed to baffle the Kryptonian. In all honesty, so was John. "What do you mean by that?" Superman asked in bewilderment.

"I had been the one to assign Batman to that location," J'onn confessed. "I had thought he wouldn't have been able to arrive in time, but instead of insisting he not go, or use the teleporter, I bowed to his wishes. If I had not listened to him, he would be still alive."

"Or if you sent someone else," John added before shaking his head. "Batman made the decision to go in alone, when he most likely knew he was cutting it short to begin with. His pride did this, not you."

"I have to say, I'm siding with John on this," Superman agreed. "We all know how prideful Batman was. He would have gone in even if you told him to sit it out."

"Thank you for your kind words," the Martian said, bowing his head gratefully. "But it does not change the fact that I could have acted as well. This is a decision that will haunt me...for quite some time."

The doors opened again, and this time Flash entered, though he did so at a sedate pace. That was unusual considering he normally sped into every room he entered. "So everyone but the ladies are here," he remarked, his voice subdued as he approached them.

Huh, he was right. Ever since John had returned to the Watchtower, Batman's remained in tow, he hadn't seen either Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl. Diana had gasped, her hands covering her mouth and nose as she stared at their former comrade. Hawkgirl had been frozen in shock. That was the last time he had seen either woman.

Flash sighed right as he stopped at the foot of the gurney, turning to face the Leaguers. "I hate to be that guy, ya know, with everything that's happened, but we need to talk about a couple things." It was strange seeing the speedster so serious, but then, they were all in a state of shock or grieving.

"Since everyone saw John leaving that factory place, the press have been calling for statements," the red-clad man began. "I've stalled them, saying that we're currently in the middle of an investigation and can't comment on it, but that's only going to last for so long."

"The League will have to address it eventually," John said, arms crossing over his chest again. "But not right now."

"I don't think you know how persistent these guys are," Flash countered. "Our phone line has been ringing off the hook for the last thirty minutes. I didn't even know we had a phone line in this place until they called."

"I'll work on a statement," Superman volunteered. "I can make sure no one knows about this just yet."

"Which brings up another topic," J'onn spoke then. "What do we tell others about this? Eventually, Batman's absence is going to be noticed."

"Oh, man." John found himself looking to Flash as the man pressed a hand to his forehead. "The kid that was with Batman, in his cave. Batgirl. We have to tell her about this."

The Green Lantern suddenly found it difficult to swallow. He hadn't actually met this Batgirl partner, but the others had. Already he could feel just how tough this was going to be.

Flash then dropped his hand from his face and tilted his head up so he was looking up at the ceiling. He blew some air out of his mouth before bringing his head back down. "I'm not sure about you guys, but I think I'll handle that. We've actually met and I'm pretty good with kids."

There was a part of John that was relieved by this. It was never easy having to tell someone their loved one was never coming back. It was one thing he had done following his tours and it was the least enjoyable aspect of his military career.

However, all of this talk was about stalling. They were missing their main objective. "Which leaves our actual investigation. Someone is planning something big; he practically taunted us all in Elko about it. We need to nail him and nail him _hard._ "

"Damn straight," Flash agreed heatedly. Superman nodded his agreement a stern look on his face. J'onn merely gazed at him, waiting expectantly.

"What we know so far is that this guy was expecting us and arranged this entire thing on the fly. That means he has spies everywhere. We need to find out who, or, at the very least, find out what the main objective is."

"John and J'onn, you two get started on that," Superman said. "Once Flash and I are finished with our assignments, we'll join you. I'll also check on the girls and fill them in with what we're doing."

For once, John felt like they were on the right track. They had lost one of their own and each of them was hurting in their own way. He had found the best way for him to handle death was to get right back in the saddle and keep busy. Do anything that kept him from being alone with his thoughts.

Anything at all.

* * *

He was gone.

That was the only thought that was in Diana's head. It was on a continuous loop, going over and over in her mind. _He's gone. He's gone. He's gone._

It was driving her insane.

The Amazon had tried to get her mind off of it. She did what came naturally and sought out the training room. The mechanical robots hadn't really helped, not in the way she needed them too. Perhaps fighting hadn't been the salve to the torrent of emotion in her head. Perhaps punishing herself by going all out was not the answer.

Perhaps she didn't have nearly enough robots to crush considering she had company.

Hawkgirl hadn't left her side since they had seen John board the Watchtower. The sight of Batman had hit her so suddenly, so hard, she had been breathless. She had watched John take the body away, felt a stabbing pain in her chest that had yet to go away. It was a feeling she was not used to.

Familiar feelings of pain, stress, and anger hadn't dampened it one bit. Now, now she felt empty aside from her constant chest pain. She was drained of all energy, lifeless, numb.

And still Hawkgirl was at her side.

They were now in Diana's room aboard the Watchtower. The space station's rotation had her small window facing the void of space, it's darkness a representation of how the Amazon felt. She was currently slumped over on her bed, somehow staying seated on the mattress; her back pressing up against the wall probably had something to do with it. Hawkgirl had taken the sole chair in the room and was facing her. Neither Sister had said a word, but really what was there to say?

A comrade, a fellow warrior-in-arms had fallen. He was gone.

Diana had seen friends die in the line of duty; this was not a first for her. The same could be said of Hawkgirl, who had survived the carnage of the Thanagarians' multiple wars. Yet, there was something different about this. It didn't _feel_ like the others.

Why?

"Are you ready to talk about it?" Hawkgirl suddenly asked, it startled the Amazon, causing her to physically jump.

"Talk?" she repeated softly. "Talk about what?"

The winged woman visibly shuddered as she sighed. It seemed she didn't want to say what she was about to say. "About Batman. What happened to him."

A flash of the charred body appeared in her head and Diana had to fight the urge to vomit. "That's not him," she declared, feeling a flicker of her usual self come to the surface.

"What makes you think that?" Hawkgirl responded patiently.

"It was just a body, burned beyond recognition. He must have fought the person that John found and felt it was best to let the bomb go off."

It had sounded good in her head. For a man that took to the shadows like a duck to water, subterfuge was not beyond him. There must have been something about the bomb that convinced him to fake his death and go underground. A wave of relief hit her, making her feel more alive than she had felt in the last hour.

"So he put his costume on this man where there was a chance he could be recognized?" the Thanagarian rebutted. "Not to mention his aversion towards killing? Would he have left an unconscious man behind to die while he escaped?"

With every question the redhead made, Diana's elation was torn asunder. No, she could not see the man risking his identity for such a ploy nor leaving another to die. He would most certainly not do that. "But he has died before," she tried again. "And he came back. Why can't this be the same?"

"They didn't find a body the last time. We did. And no amount of Lazarus is going to repair that."

It was a sock to the gut, her pain returning in full force. Diana found it difficult to swallow.

Hawkgirl then leaned forward in her chair, reaching a hand out that only managed to reach her ankle. "I know you two have been spending time together, more time than you have with the rest of the team. You got attached in a way you weren't used to. So that's why you're doing this, denying it."

Unconsciously, a tear trailed down her cheek from her eye. "What are you saying?"

"That you're going to miss him more than you thought possible. He's gone—"

" _Don't say_ _that,"_ Diana hissed.

Hawkgirl stared at her, then deliberately said, "He's gone."

"I told you to not—"

"He's gone."

"Stop it!"

"He's gone."

"I said stop!" Diana shouted, nearly throwing herself off the bed and tackling her Sister. Instead, she slid over the mattress until she was at the bed's edge, her breathing becoming shallow and rapid and a sob escaped her lips. More and more tears were pouring from her eyes and she found herself bent over, legs hanging over the edge of the bed.

Before she knew it, Hawkgirl was at her side, arms wrapped around the dark-haired woman. She soothingly cooed, "It's okay. It's okay," over and over. And for whatever reason, Diana find herself returning the embrace, her sobs growing louder.

Unbeknownst to her, her friend was crying with her.

* * *

Every time Flash found himself in the Batcave, he found himself in awe. The elaborate planning that had been involved was breathtaking, not to mention the the sheer weight it seemed to place on his shoulders just by being in it.

Today, it seemed to weigh even more. The cave felt ominous, darker, judgemental even. A shiver ran up and down Flash's spine. He hadn't ever felt this way before; in fact, for the first he he really wanted to get out of here.

However, he had something that needed to be done. It had to be here. Sure, he could've gone up to the house above ground, but he was staying in the cave out of respect. He didn't know Batgirl's true identity and Batman hadn't told anyone who she was. It was best he stay down here until she came down. Knowing her, she'd be able to slip right by him, get her mask, or even her entire costume on, and then sneak up on him.

Regardless, he kept his back to the staircase and instead faced the supercomputer. God, he wanted one of those. His home project to build one hadn't gone over too well, sad to say. Maybe if Bats left a will, he may have left it to him. He snorted. Yeah, and pigs would fly.

Rolling his head back as he looked up to the ceiling, Flash called out, "Hey, I know you're in here somewhere. It's Flash, the Fastest Man Alive, and I need to talk to you." There was silence, but that was to be expected. She was mute after all.

Still, he thought he would've heard something. A footstep, a pebble skipping over the ground, something. But then he remembered who trained her and he almost slapped himself on the forehead. Bats had been able to sneak up on people with super-hearing, telepathy, and a bunch of other superpowers. If this girl was good—and after everything he had seen and heard about her, she was most definitely was—then he wouldn't know she was here unless she wanted him too.

He sighed. There was no telling how long he was going to be here. Lowering his head, he looked to his left, and then his right, seeing nothing. Yeah, it definitely was going to be a long night. Feeling himself getting fidgety, he began to turn around—

And promptly let out a startled shriek. Standing there as if she had been there the entire time was Batgirl, her head tilted up as she stared at him expectantly.

Jesus! Did he not call this? Damn! For someone that could damn near run at the speed of light without breaking a sweat, Flash's heart was pounding. Did these Bats get some perverse pleasure out of giving mini-heart attacks?!

Hand clutching at his chest, the red-clad man fought to get his breathing under control. It took him a little longer than he would've cared to admit, but he managed to. "Hey, what's up, Bat-chick?" he greeted her.

Batgirl continued to stare at him.

 _Well, so much for pleasantries._ Flash coughed uncomfortably. He wasn't used to someone that didn't so much as flinch at his natural charisma. "Straight to the point, I take it," he muttered more for himself than for her. "I've...come to tell you...something…" Dear Lord, this was going to be harder than he thought, and he already thought it was going to be tough. "...about Batman."

At this, the girl's head perked up. There was something so...so trusting about her gaze that it made Flash pause. He began to feel sick to his stomach. "Well, you see, the thing is…" Damn it, why couldn't he just say it?

Suddenly, he felt a gloved him touch his face. Jerking his head, he saw Batgirl had placed her hand against his cheek. It was surprisingly comforting. It was almost as if she could tell he had something important to say and was doing...well, whatever she thought would help.

Sadly, it had the opposite reaction. Here she was comforting him when it should've been the other way around. God, he had messed this up. Backing up a step, and subsequently removing the girl's hand from his face, he said, "Listen to me for a second. Something has happened to Batman."

That got Batgirl's attention. Her entire body seemed to stiffen at his words. "We were in a mission earlier in the night. He was helping us out and all and, well, he's not going to be coming home."

Barely a heartbeat passed before he amended, "Tonight. He won't be home tonight." _Why? Why did you say that?_ He had said the important part, so why did he backtrack? _Stupid! Stupid!_ "What I mean is, he's on—" _Okay, what would make sense to a Bat-person?_ "—on a mission! Yeah, that's it! He's on a mission for the League and he won't be back for awhile. He's going undercover...deep undercover."

Six feet to be exact.

The dark-clad girl tilted her head to a side as if contemplating that, or at least that's what Flash hoped she was doing. For all he knew, she didn't believe him at all. Heh, if he was in her combat-designed boots, he wouldn't believe him.

His eyes found their way to the ground. What was he doing? Why use the euphemisms? He was allegedly the one best with kids, which is why he volunteered for this. Maybe someone else should've come down here instead. Alright, it was time to man up. Straightening his shoulders, Flash looked back up to the girl—

Only to find she was nowhere in sight. _Oh. Great. She's gone._ "Well, that was a nice chat," he said sarcastically. "I guess I'll see you around."

In a flash, he was out of there. Perhaps this was best. Maybe later he could come up with a better way to say what he wanted and actually say it. Yeah, that was it. He just needed a moment to better compose himself.

At least, that's what Flash told himself.

* * *

The Anthony Shadid Award is a real award for ethics in journalism. I wanted to make sure such an award existed before making one up and this is what my searching gave me.

To Guest: I'm curious to know what this reminds you of.


	6. You Did What!

"You did _what?!_ " John roared, the man standing up as his chair skidded across the floor behind him.

Flash seemed to shrink in on himself. "What was I supposed to do?" he defended meekly. "You didn't see the way she was looking at me."

"For Pete's sake," the Green Lantern swore, rubbing a hand down his face. "Tell me, what's so hard about telling someone their loved one is dead?"

"I think you indirectly answered yourself," Superman pointed out gently, an attempt to calm down the hostility. "Flash isn't used to delivering that sort of news."

"Then he shouldn't have volunteered for it," John spat out bitterly. "I've had to make those visits, so I know exactly what to expect."

"Then why don't you go do it?" Flash asked.

The man glared at the speedster. "It's still your job. You better tell that poor girl soon before she starts to suspect. The longer this goes on, the worst it will be for everyone involved."

"For now, that narrative can stay," J'onn said. "We have important matters to discuss."

That seemed to placate John for the time being. Superman was going to keep an eye on him though, just in case he decided to veer back to Flash's topic. While John had a point about Flash's volunteering, the Kryptonian didn't see a way it wouldn't be difficult. It had been tough enough talking to the others about what had happened to their friend and comrade; there was no telling what it would be like telling someone that had whatever relationship existed between Batman and Batgirl. It wasn't a romantic one; perhaps a teacher-student one?

"J'onn and I have investigated the two bombing sites in Elko and Erie," John began, reporting on the investigation at hand. "Aside from the extreme amount of damage, we did managed to recover something out of Elko." At this, he hit a button on the remote and the holographic projector turned on.

An image of a ruined piece of technology appeared before the men. At best, Superman guessed it was some sort of transmitter, but he wasn't completely sure.

John began his explanation. "This is a two-way radio receiver, or at least what's left of it. It's custom-made, which eliminates the usual suspects that could carry out an attack like this. It's advanced for being an Earth-based model, but—"

Flash raised a hand as he interrupted, "Earth-based?"

"Yeah, something made on Earth, Flash," the dark-skinned man deadpanned.

"You know, you sound like you're presenting in front of one of your alien bosses and not us."

The Green Lantern paused before he looked sheepish. "Sorry about that, it's an old habit." He then cleared his throat. "Anyways, this receiver is pretty similar to a design used by the government. J'onn and I are still sorting through which federal agencies either uses it or used it at some point, so that part of the investigation is ongoing."

"The range of the receiver, however, is quite wide," J'onn spoke up, continuing the report. "It's user could have been as far as the next state in order to use it, which leads me to believe some modifications have been done to it. Green Lantern tells me most agents of the government need to be in close proximity for their receivers to work, usually the building next to the target."

"At least that's how the movies tell it," Flash remarked.

"Do we have an ID on our suspect?" Superman inquired then, leaning forward in his seat.

"Unfortunately, no," the Martian answered.

"Which brings us to the bombs themselves," John said, switching the image to one of the bombs. "We collected all the ones we were able to disarm, minus the ones Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl chunked into the ocean. They're also a custom job, but a lot of the materials come from a handful of companies. You'll never guess who they're all connected to."

As if proof of that statement, none of the heroes responded, leaving John to look to each of them, waiting expectantly for an answer, but receiving none. "They're connected to Sumatra, each one a shell company, or just a front for the business. They did all the dirty work in ordering the bomb parts, which were then shipped to multiple locations."

"They had to come to one location sooner or later," Flash replied. "They were put together somehow and I don't think they did a different phase of assembly at different locations."

"Got that right, Hot Shot." The commendation made the red-clad man preen in his seat, much to Superman's amusement. "All of the parts and components found their way to a place in Montana."

"Don't tell me, the Una-bomber helped build them."

John's face dropped into one of disapproval. "Quit trying to be funny, Flash."

"Hey, I can't stop what comes naturally, GL."

"What can you tell us about this Montana location?" Superman asked, attempting to get the conversation back on topic.

"Abandoned, though that isn't too surprising." Again, John hit a button on the remote and the hologram changed into a map of the U.S. "However, due to our study of the bombs, we discovered there was a tracking device embedded in the framework."

"Why would someone want a tracking device in a bomb?" Flash questioned. "Seems like a waste of a resource to me."

"Most likely, the mastermind wanted to keep track of where the bombs were placed," J'onn suggested. "In addition, after some extensive research, we discovered that a signal was transmitted once the bomb was defused. We were being watched the entire time."

"Is it something we can track?" Superman immediately asked, nearly rising up out of his seat. If he wasn't mistaken, they could use that same frequency to track where it was sent to.

The smirk on the Lantern's face answered his question before he even said anything. "It is. We have the Watchtower's computer cycling through every satellite that was over the U.S last night. It'll take some time, but we should be able to get a location."

At last, some good news. If this played out the way they wanted, they could find where the Canidite was weaponized before it was scattered throughout the country. Though the number of satellites they'd have to go through may be problematic, they could have this thing settled up within a week.

Suddenly, the doors to the meeting room slid open. As the men turned their heads, they were greeted with the sight of Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl entering the room.

It was good to see Diana striding so confidently. The last time Superman had seen her, she had been an emotional wreck, to put it nicely. He had barely gotten a look at the Amazon Princess before Hawkgirl had ceremoniously thrown him out of the room. It was a weak moment for a person so used to being strong. More importantly, the Kryptonian understood that such moments were not to be shared, especially by those sorts of people. It's why he had made it clear to the others to leave them be.

"You guys have been busy," Hawkgirl commented as she reached her seat at the table, eyes glued to the holographic image being projected. "Mind filling me and Diana on what you've been up to?"

"We've been doing a follow-up investigation to the Canidite bomb threat," J'onn answered her. "So far we have a possible lead with the Canidite itself. We believe we can track it to the person who has been collecting it the last few months."

The Thanagarian gave her colleague a bland look. "Is that it?"

"That is the status of our current progress, yes."

"I gotta admit, I thought you guys would've had more than that."

Now that Hawkgirl mentioned it, Superman had the same feeling. What had seemed like a solid amount of progress wasn't as much as he initially believed. It could have been the way it was presented, but he rather doubted that.

It didn't really take much to figure out why that was. Despite the combined power of the Justice League, they were not investigators by nature. J'onn was a detective in one of his secret identities, but that was assisted by this telepathy. Hawkgirl also held the distinction of a detective as well, but the Thanagarian version had subtle differences as well. Superman was an investigative reporter in his day job, but that didn't delve much further into, say, a murder investigation as much as it did a political scandal. Flash had experience as a forensic expert in law enforcement, but had yet to be put into the field on this case.

In all honesty, Batman had handled this part of the job and was thorough to a fault. It was almost as if he combined the best and most useful aspects of each hero's investigative background and taken it an extra step. He sniffed out the clues they would have missed, found the connection in a plot of intrigue, and discovered their mystery foe's next move before it was even made. Superman had no doubt that if he were still with them, he would have found out much more than they already had.

"Do we have an identity for our suspect?" Diana inquired there, bringing the Kryptonian out of his thoughts.

"Nothing yet," John responded.

The look on the Amazon's face was not pleased. "How have we not obtained this information?" she demanded, her eyes growing more intense.

"Do you have anything you can add to the investigation?" the Green Lantern asked her, receiving only a glare in response. "That's what I thought. I know you're impatient, but our perp has done a damn good job at keeping himself off the grid. The only time he's reared his head was when he told us about his bomb threat. Someone like that isn't going to be easy to track."

"We need to find out who he is before he strikes again," she pressed.

"That's the idea, Diana, but until our leads pan out, we can only do so much."

* * *

A cold snap had blown into town overnight. The weathermen had been caught off-guard, not that that was surprising. They were calling for low temperatures for the next day or so and then things should get warmer by the weekend.

In the meantime, there was a chill in the air and Huntress was thankful for her insulated suit. It was nights like these that she was glad she hadn't left this battle-hardened costume in a box in her apartment. The last couple of weeks or so, she had felt a change in wardrobe was warranted, something to reward herself for so many years of crime-fighting. She was thinking of something that showed off her stomach and thigh-high boots.

That was now a summer outfit as far as she was concerned. For now, she was just happy in her full-body suit.

Though the current chill was unexpected, it wasn't the only thing different in Gotham. Crime, for instance, was taking a power nap, so there weren't as many muggings, or bank robberies as normal. It had made the last few nights rather boring, not that that was a bad thing. To be sure, things would start to pick up eventually; this was merely the calm before the storm in her eyes.

Another thing that was different, and perhaps was the more concerning one, was the absence of Batman. For the last week she had been on her own, with the Bat and his Bat-sidekick nowhere to be seen. It wasn't uncommon for Huntress to strike off on her own, or even miss a night due to her day job—those essays weren't going to grade themselves.

However, she had never gone this long without seeing them. It was very worrisome.

And it wasn't as if the Bat had just gotten sick of her hanging out; it was actually surprising he let her hang around him for as long as he had. There hadn't been any reported Bat-sightings anywhere, not by the media, the GCPD, the Birds of Prey, no one at all. Part of the purple-clad vigilante wanted to start asking questions, but even she could see how problematic that would be. If the criminal underworld ever figured out Batman wasn't around, all hell would break loose.

There was a standing precedent for that.

Glancing down the street and back, Huntress felt she had stayed in one location for too long. It was time to move on. Standing up, she reached to her belt and pulled out her grapple, preparing to fire it at the building across the street.

That's when she felt it. It was a presence more than anything. She hadn't heard a sound and since the roof was covered with gravel that was saying something. The corner of her mouth twitched up. It seemed all of her worrying was for nothing.

Turning around, Huntress' smile dropped from her face. If there was anyone that could walk on small rocks and not make a sound, it was Batman; yet, there was no Dark Knight in sight. Instead, there was only Batgirl, her cape wrapped around her lithe body as its ends fluttered in the wind.

Something was seriously wrong here. Ever since she had come onto the scene, Batgirl was rarely, if ever, not around Batman. It was more a choice by the dark-clad man than the girl due to her rather dark past. Her roaming the city alone was damn near unheard of.

"What are you doing here?" she called out to the girl, placing her grapple back into her belt. "Where's your chaperone?"

Batgirl merely shrugged her shoulders as she walked over to Huntress—she didn't even make a sound, damn it. Frowning, the purple-clad woman asked, "Why isn't Batman here?"

The dark-clad girl paused, as if she were searching for the right word to say, not that she would. Huntress had only heard her say a handful of words at best; it was rather galling to her as a teacher to be honest.

However, tonight was full of surprises as she said, "Work."

Huntress raised an eyebrow. "Work? As in his day job?"

She shook her head. Then she pointed up into the sky. "Work."

The dark-haired woman tilted her head back to look at the starry night sky. She honestly wasn't sure what she meant. What did Batman and work have to do with up there? Looking back questioningly at Batgirl, she then saw her take on a pose. It was a familiar one too, with Batgirl holding both of her arms out in front of her, leaning forward as if she were flying. She had seen her students do that at school. They had called it the Superman pose.

That thought caused her to perk her head up. "He's working with Superman and them?" she questioned. "The Justice League?"

She got a sharp nod as a response. Well, that explained a lot. No wonder Batman hadn't been seen; he wasn't even in town. The news had mentioned a bombing, or something recently that the Justice League was somehow involved with. He must have been involved in the investigation.

Which meant he had left Gotham's care in her hands. Well, her and the other vigilantes, but why split hairs? Strange though, he usually made a point of letting someone know he would be unavailable.

Pushing that thought aside, Huntress was starting to get why Batgirl was out on her own. With Batman out of town, that would have left the girl sitting around the house bored. She remembered what it was like being a teenage girl and being told not to go out. It seemed someone was starting to rebel.

Far be it from her to deny a fellow woman her right to fight the man.

Her smirk reappeared on her face. "Alright, Batgirl, I guess it's you and me for the time being. I'm not sure how you got here, and I think it's best for you to keep that a secret lest Big Bat Daddy finds out. So I'll let you crash at my place for the time being."

Again, she got a nod of agreement from Batgirl. This was gonna be interesting. It had been awhile since she had someone stay at her place. She was sure the couch was comfy enough. However, this wasn't going to be a free ride.

Looking serious at Batgirl, Huntress then said, "Now, if you're going to be staying with me, we're gonna be working on your piss-poor vocabulary. Batman may be okay with you saying only ten words, but that's one area he's failing you. I won't be so lenient. Got it?"

She wasn't sure if Batgirl got the gist of what she said, but considering the girl just nodded her acceptance, she took it as her new pupil wanting to give it a try.

"Alright, it's been pretty quiet tonight. I say we call it a night and I'll show you your new digs. Then we're hitting the books hard."

Heh, at least they would be hitting something tonight. Huntress wasn't sure which she found more satisfying: beating up a gangbanger or force feeding learning. Seeing as she had a brand new challenge, she was leaning towards the teaching tonight.

* * *

Diana could feel it. It lay just beneath the skin, constantly nervous, twitching. There was a buzzing in her ears that just wouldn't stop. She had been sitting for far too long.

Grief had long since burned itself out, primarily thanks to her winged Sister. Now there was anger simmering, just waiting to be unleashed. Her discipline held her at bay for there was no foe to smite, no obstacle to crush. It left her feeling frustrated and edgy, a caged animal thirsting for freedom.

The problem was that the League had yet to find out who was behind the impending threat. The coward had covered his tracks too well and hidden himself too deep in the shadows. She knew he was out there because she had heard him, heard that confident, sly, egotistical voice of his. He hadn't even attempted to mask himself with a voice distorter. It galled her to think this man thought he was superior to the League.

Worst yet, there was a sense of failure that infested her with each and every passing day. It had been a week since she had demanded results from the rest of her comrades and had been given very little in return. Admittedly, she hadn't taken it well. Her anger had gotten the better of her that day.

Still, time had done very little to salve the festering wound she felt. She had too might time to think...of him. She was willing to admit she was feeling something much different about the late Bruce Wayne, something that was much different than how she felt about the rest of the male members of the League. He could be rude, arrogant, and sometimes downright hostile, but that was the man she had first met. The one she knew now was self-deprecating and humble, still arrogant, but for good reason. He could make her laugh at the oddest of times.

The jazz club flashed into her mind. Her last memory of him, a good one. He had held such promise.

And now it was gone.

"I bet you can't even see the Earth right now."

Diana turned her head, finding Hawkgirl standing in the doorway of the room she was in. The room just happened to be the observatory, which held a window that gave its occupants a view of Earth.

Her Sister was right though, she hadn't seen it. She had been so consumed by her thoughts, she hadn't noticed its beauty. For some reason that didn't alarm her. "How are you doing, Sister?" she decided to ask.

"Tired, bored, about like that," the Thanagarian answered as she walked further into the room. She came to a stop next to the Amazon. "Have you been getting any sleep? You don't look so good."

No, she hadn't been. Glancing to the window, she could just make out her reflection. There were bags underneath her eyes and her face looked slacken. She hadn't been getting any rest, mainly due to the nervous energy that just wouldn't go away.

"I'll be fine," she reassured her friend.

"You sure? Because we've got a mission."

The dark-haired woman's head perked up. "What is it?"

"Lantern thinks he may have traced that bomb signal. Since we're the only three on the Watchtower as of now, he's calling us in to go investigate."

Diana was marching to the door before Shayera had finished. At long last, they were going into battle. She was more than ready for this.

Her enemy better be too.

* * *

The doorknob rattled, a hissing sound being made. Slowly, the inner locking mechanism was melted as a hot, green construct burned through it.

The doorknob fell off the door, clattering on the stone patio. John Stewart stopped funneling his will into his ring, the green light disappearing. Pushing against the door, it swung inward, revealing an empty kitchen.

The building was actually a house, one that had a FOR SALE sign on the front yard. The house was supposed to be empty, but John was betting otherwise.

His reasoning: this was the location the bomb signals went while the Justice League defused each and every one. Though it might be for sale, chances were the current owner had made sure no one visited in the last couple of weeks, that owner being their perp.

Striding in, Diana and Shayera behind him, John activated his ring again, a green light illuminating the dark house. Without a word, the three heroes spread out, the two women heading deeper into the house. John, in the meantime, began opening the kitchen cabinets, finding them empty, save for a mousetrap in one. He even checked the dishwasher, it too being empty. The place where the refrigerator went lacked one, the connections sticking out of the wall.

Though he hadn't found anything here, he knew someone had been here. He would have missed it if he hadn't swept his green light across the floor as he made his way to head further into the house. On the linoleum were crumbs. Someone had either made food, or brought it here. While they had dealt with their trash, they didn't bother sweeping the floor.

Exiting the kitchen, John soon found himself in a living room, this one empty save for random wires sticking out of the wall. The floor changed from the linoleum of the kitchen to carpet, which softened his footsteps.

Spotting a hallway, he made his way towards it, stopping when Shayera came out of a doorway. She glanced to him, but didn't say anything, meaning she hadn't found anything. Turning, she headed to the end of the hall and turned to her right. She then opened a door and walked into the next room.

Almost as if this were a poorly-made whack-a-mole, Diana appeared in the hall, emerging from the end of the hall, but on the left side. "Have you found something?" she asked.

"Crumbs, but that's about it," John grunted. "All that confirms is someone was here."

Shayera reemerged then. "All of the rooms are clear," she stated. "There's no one here."

That wasn't too surprising. Onto the next step. Moving to stand in the mouth of the hall, John turned to face the living room and began shining his light all over the room. Though the light didn't visibly change, how he was channeling it did. Instead of lighting up the room, the ring was doing a search on every spectrum imaginable. For instance, footprints appeared on the carpet, a result of a thermal scan. Seeing there were only three sets, it was safe to say those belonged to the Leaguers.

Towards the back of the room, he picked something up. From what the ring was telling him, it was chemical in nature. Frowning, John slowly approached it, seeing an area glowing a brilliant white.

"Find something?" Shayera inquired, the winged woman standing behind him.

"Possibly," he replied before he willed his ring to give him a report on what it had found. The area was stained by some sort of liquid spill, he was told in response, though the chemicals were a compound. Ordering it to find its closest match, it took a moment before he received an answer.

"Lead with coloring," he said out loud. "Paint."

"That's the big discovery? Someone spilled some paint?" Shayera demanded.

"Yet, why don't we see it?" Diana asked. "I know I didn't when I passed through."

"It's must have been the same color as the carpet," John said. "However, lead-based paints aren't produced anymore, much less sold. It's possible someone either managed to get their hands on some very old paint, or they were mixing lead into the paint themselves. Either way, the stain's old, so whoever was mixing it was here a long time ago."

"Why go through that effort, though?" the Thanagarian pointed out. "What use could they have for lead-laced paint?"

John scowled. "Well, considering one of us has X-ray vision, I'd think the lead would go a long way to stop a certain someone's prying eyes."

"So they used this place for more that just a temporary base," Diana said. "They were preparing for their next step."

"It's a shame we don't we don't know what they're ultimate plan is," Shayera grumbled. "All we have are bits and pieces, but nothing definitive."

"Not necessarily," the Amazon responded. "Superman cannot look through lead, correct?"

"Last I checked, yeah."

"Then if one were to hide lead in a place without it, one could always find that lead."

There was a pause before something clicked in the winged woman's head. "So you're saying if we get Superman to look for places he can't see through, we can find these perps." The readhead paused. "I guess that's worth a shot."

"It's not like we have that much else going for us here," John said. Looking to the women, he could see their frustration beginning to show on their faces. He felt the same way honestly. They were damn near following the trail of a ghost who rerouted shipments of an experimental explosive and then produced lead-based paint. None of that was making sense.

It seemed the further they went down this rabbit hole, the less it made sense. Something better had and real soon; this lack of progress was going to start irritating the League's members and that would spell disaster for them. Someone could go off on their own and they'd have another Metropolis on their hands. John didn't think their ghost was above doing that to them, not after it was so successful the last time it was done.

"C'mon, guys, let's get out of here. We've done all we can here."

* * *

To (1st) Guest reviewer: Only the future can tell.

To (2nd) Guest reviewer: How does that remind you of Under the Red Hood?


	7. Master Movers

It had taken some time. It was honestly a small hope off in the distance. Anyone of reasonable thinking wouldn't have given it as much effort.

Yet, it was something to cling to for the team. They needed something, anything to show for the effort they had been putting in. It was why Superman had gone out every day to find that lead-infused paint Green Lantern and the ladies had found. It had a taken a few days, but the Kryptonian thought he had finally found a lead.

Because he was honest, it was pure luck that he had found it. He had been scanning a city in the heartland of the country when he noticed something strange. Though there were lead constructs all over the place, especially your older buildings and statues, he had noticed black spots in his x-ray vision, each moving at steady paces. It took him a bit to realize they were nothing more than trucks on the highway.

At first he was going to brush them off as just a mere coincidence, but then he realized just how uncommon it was. There were plenty of other cars and trucks he could see right into, seeing the drivers, the passengers, contents, and even the engine hard at work. That was too strange to be overlooked.

As if to confirm his feeling, the trucks he couldn't see into were small moving trunks, just like the ones U-haul used, yet their colors were different. Instead of orange and white, they were red and white, proudly proclaiming the company name, Master Movers. It wasn't all that hard keeping up with them since he could fly. He just made sure he stayed high up in the air so that they couldn't see him. If they felt the slightest bit paranoid and thought someone was following them, they could try to lose their tail, real or imaginary.

Which lead him to a moving truck yard. It was half-full of the moving trucks, all of which were kept within the confines of a gated parking lot. Nothing unusual there, at least if you didn't take into account all of the trucks were coated with lead paint.

Now, it could've been complete coincidence. Maybe the company painted their trucks with paints that had lead in them. The only problem with that theory was that he found a couple of trucks with shoddy paint jobs. There were ripples, for a lack of a better word, throughout the upper layer of paint. It was as if someone had driven the truck before the paint had dry, which allowed the wind to pull on the wet paint.

Eyeing the parking lot, Superman saw there was no one currently roaming the lot. However, he did notice the fence was constructed with deterrents. It was electrified and powerfully so; there were many small animals lying at the base of the fence, burns to their bodies and clearly dead. Security cameras were positioned at the corners of the fence, turning from side to side as they scanned the area.

Someone clearly didn't want unexpected visitors.

All of the reconnaissance was performed in the clouds, so there was no fear of anyone spotting him. However, he needed to get into those trucks. He needed to be sure that this place was indeed what the League was looking for. Anything else would put them back at square one, where they had been for far too long.

It was good thing he was faster than a speeding bullet. It also helped that he knew his way around trucks too, thanks to his upbringing on a farm. Steeling himself, he then bolted for the ground, first becoming a blur of red and blue before he picked up more speed. He didn't even touch the ground as he changed directions at the last seconds, running parallel to the ground. He closed in rapidly on the back of the truck he had been following. He didn't have a watch or anything, but he had the door unlocked, shoved upward, and then brought back down behind him in a second flat. Flash would've been impressed with his speed.

However, that left him in the back of a dark trailer. That was no problem for his x-ray vision, which he summoned. Unfortunately, as the darkness receded he realized the trailer was pretty much empty. Aside from some trash, there wasn't much of anything.

That was very disappointing. Superman could only imagine how his friends would react to this, assuming he mentioned it at all. He would have to return to scanning another city and there was no telling if there would be any luck there.

Glancing to the trash, the dark-haired man noticed a few pieces were merely paper balls. Picking up one of them, he uncrinkled it to the best of his ability until he had a wrinkled piece of paper in hand. He immediately recognized it as a Bill of Lading, basically a receipt for whatever cargo the truck was carrying. Scanning it, it took a moment for Superman to realize what he was reading.

Toy guns—air soft guns to be exactly. That's what this truck had hauled as of yesterday. It went to some place in Virginia if the Bill of Lading was correct.

Though initially disappointed, the Man of Steel was puzzled. Why paint an entire fleet of trucks with lead if they were only hauling toys? It didn't make sense. There was no need for it.

Except if what this receipt was saying was false. It could've been falsified in order to deceive law enforcement should they be pulled over. If that was truly the case, then there was no telling what was actually transported. A part of Superman felt that perhaps the guns weren't exactly toys.

Reaching a hand up, Superman activated his comm link. "Superman to Watchtower; is there anyone available to check out a location for me?"

* * *

Lucius Fox was not happy. There was turmoil in his ranks, hushed whispers that would stop whenever he walked by, rumors that swirled throughout corporation long enough they might as well be fact. Months of his time had been put into quelling it.

He had done so without very much help from his CEO.

Most of the work he had done was for Bruce and the younger man hadn't made things easy. He was all but ignoring his company, which did not sit well with members of his board. Their annoyance had spread to the rank-and-file and they were starting to be put off by Bruce's perchance for unexplained absences—unexplained at the time, anyways. He usually had a pretty good reason once he actually came in, but then the cycle repeated itself. This must have been how Sisyphus felt.

This time, Bruce hadn't been around for going on two weeks. No word had been left, just poof, he was gone. Multiple calls had been made to his house and cell phone—most of which had been made by Lucius—and all had gone unanswered. There had been no returned calls to the dozens of voicemails left. It was unacceptable to be frank.

He wasn't asking for much out of the man, either. Pay attention to your employees; keep up with the various projects; attend a damn charity party. Aside from the occasional attempt, which were few and far in-between, the billionaire pretty much failed on the first two demands. He at least made some effort for the charities, but now that was falling to the wayside.

Lucius glanced to his clock; it was early afternoon, which even Bruce had to be awake by now. Picking up his phone, he hit the preset number for Bruce's houses and held the receiver by his face. The rings started and each one slowly gnawed on his diminishing patience. The longer they went, the more he felt this would end just like all his other calls.

And then the answering machine picked up. " _We're sorry, the person you reached is not available. Please leave a message after the beep._ BEEP!"

"Bruce, it's Lucius," the older man said. "I need you to call me back _now._ Now later today; not tomorrow; not next week. _Now._ "

He hung the phone up and pressed his hand into his face. This was beyond aggravating at this point. The man was tossing away his family's company and eventually it would leave him behind. Part of him wondered why he even bothered anymore.

* * *

" _Bruce, it's Lucius. I need you to call me back_ now _. Now later today; not tomorrow; not next week._ Now _."_

The sound of a generator turning on filled the chamber. The screen to the large super computer turned on, a window appearing on the screen. The words of the call appeared in the window, a flashing cursor beneath it. The cursor then jumped down a line, a string of code writing itself from one side of the window to the other, stopping once it reached the end and starting up again on the next line. The next line one went a few characters in before it stopped, the cursor flashing beneath it.

It jumped down to the next line again and the words INITIATE PROTOCOL 4 appeared.

* * *

The phone suddenly rang, causing Lucius to jump in his seat, hand jerking away from his face. His heart was pounding from the sudden scare and he shook himself. My, that was unexpected.

Picking up the phone, he answered, "This is Lucius."

" _Hey, Lucius!"_ Bruce's voice replied, startling the man. " _Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth and all, but I decided to go on an impromptu vacation and just completely forgot to let you know about it. I hope you can forgive me. Ciao!"_

The call ended with a familiar _click._ Pulling the phone away, Lucius blinked owlishly at it, holding the receiver to a side as he stared at it.

That was strange. It wasn't often Bruce suddenly called him out of the blue like that. It may have been because he had just checked his messages and found the borderline demanding ones. Yet, Bruce at least spoke with him, not at him. It seemed he was in a rush and was just doing his due diligence, which didn't sit well with the older man at all.

Something was up, he could just feel it.

"Alright, Bruce," he sighed as he hung the phone up. "We're going to have to discuss this when you get back," he said more to himself than anything else.

For now though, he had some business to attend to.

* * *

The light dimmed and the sight of a warehouse in Northern Virginia appeared before J'onn. Next to him was Flash, a serious look on his face.

Things had changed since the events of two weeks ago. There was a seriousness, a purpose to the League that hadn't been there before. The atmosphere was tense and fellow friends had taken to different coping mechanisms. For J'onn, he had buried himself into the investigation of the Canidite, hunting down what leads he could, and unfortunately coming back with very little. There had been a small matter with an alien ship off the West Coast of the United States, but that situation had been resolved fairly quickly between himself, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern. That reprieve did little more than distract the Martian from his investigation, leaving back where he had left off, unfinished and frustrated.

Flash, on the other hand, had begun to joke less. He was just as single-minded as the rest of them. There had been times each of them had reminded the others that they needed to check on their own cities lest they neglected them. For J'onn and Flash, both of their cities had quieted down in the time since the Erie bombing. The others hadn't been as fortunate.

Which was why they were here. John Stewart was in Detroit making his rounds; the same with Hawkgirl in Midway City. Diana had been forced off the Watchtower to look in on Gateway City, which had been a combined effort between the two men. J'onn's calls to her responsibilities and Flash's comforting tones had been the key factors in the Amazon agreeing to the respite, such as it was.

"You know, Wondy isn't going to be happy with us when she finds out about this," Flash remarked after awhile. "It'd be one thing if it was a few hours, but this is really too close to when she left, ya know?"

"I believe I do," the Martian responded. "Hopefully we find something here that may placate her."

"Yeah. So how do you want to do this? Want me to do a quick search?"

J'onn shook his head. "I think I will perform a mind-sweep of the building. Knowing if we're walking into a situation with armed men would be beneficial to us."

"By all means, J'onn."

His eyes glowed a bright orange as he stretched his mind out to the building. The first thing he noticed was how empty it felt. There was no activity on the psychic plain he could find. However, he knew what it felt like when there was a distinct lack of a presence. If there was a lack of minds in an area, it felt lonely and silent. The feeling he felt now was nothingness, as if a void stood before him.

J'onn stopped his search as he scowled. He knew what this feeling meant. "Telepathy inhibitors," he stated, a hint of his disapproval leaking into his voice.

Flash perked up at that. "Oh, there's something going down here. Do we call in backup?

"Superman is in route," the Martian stated. "However, it would behoove us to do some reconnaissance. We need to know what we are dealing with."

The red-clad man straightened his posture out. "Quick search it is then."

"No. Whoever it is we are dealing with, he'll be expecting us to chase him. If he has gone out of his way to use lead and telepathy inhibitors, then he'll be prepared for you as well."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Flash questioned.

The answer to that was a subtle approach. Instead of only the Flash racing through the building, the two heroes phased their way in—J'onn by altering his body, causing him to become transparent to the naked eye, and Flash by vibrating his body so fast that he slipped right through the very atoms that comprised the walls.

The two met with no resistance once they were inside. Like most warehouses, this one was filled with crates and barrels. Ropes with metal hooks hung from the ceiling, a metal scaffolding attached to a railing system being the site where the ropes were attached.

There were, however, many men here, all of whom were dressed in either combat fatigues or laborer clothes. Some were openly carrying automatic weapons as they patrolled the room—specifically, they were keeping an eye on the weaponless men as they moved crates and barrels to trucks.

"That looks like one of those trucks Supes was following," Flash whispered to the green man, crouching behind a wooden box as he peered over its top.

J'onn found himself agreeing with that realization. They were painted red and white with the logo of MASTER MOVERS in bold letters. While there were trucks that were being loaded, there were others that were being emptied. Considering the amount that was stored here, these men had been at this for quite some time.

"Hurry up, ladies!" one man called out, strolling by the back of the trucks, a machine gun clutched in his hands. "We're on a schedule here!"

"I'm betting that guys knows something about this," Flash said. "So here's my plan: I'll zip around this place, knocking all of these guys out, and you focus on that guy. Deal?"

A small smile appeared on J'onn's face. Flash's confidence was welcomed by him. "Be sure not to injury these men terribly. We may need them for further information."

"Got it, no head injuries." Flash paused as he mulled something over in his head. "Maybe a concussion or two. Slight ones."

Then in a red blur, Flash took off. J'onn watched as the man circled around the room, darting for the men with guns first. The first pass he made disarmed them, leaving them all staring at their hands in confusion, their clothes whipping to a side from the wind left in Flash's wake.

Moving forward, J'onn floated over the floor before he landed right behind a man, who was staring at the rest of the room in bewilderment. He had been in process of using a dolly to lift a crate up. Stopping next to him, the Martian merely raised a fist up and shot it out to his side. The blow knocked the man out, causing him to collapse to the floor.

And then Flash made his second pass. Again, he focused on the former gun-wielding men, each one suddenly jerking to a side as a red blur passed them, each one with their head snapped to a side as they appeared to be involuntarily lunging in midair.

Suddenly, Flash appeared at J'onn's side, resting an arm on the Martian's shoulder, the arm itself bent at the elbow, which was pointed right at J'onn's head. The rest of Flash was relaxed as he leaned towards the green man. "Well, well, guys, I think you can all call it a day," he announced, causing all of the men to jerk around to look at them.

There was a moment where everyone was looking at the heroes and the heroes back at them. Then all of the laborers pulled out handguns, the sound of hammers being cocked back before they were aimed right at them.

Flash frowned. "Huh, hadn't expected that."

J'onn merely narrowed his eyes. Then, his arms shrunk into his body, his shoulders slurping up his upper arms, followed by his elbows, forearms, and lastly his hands. Two mounds formed on his chest before they fired out, two columns racing through the air. At their ends, fists began to form, fully taking shape an instant before they slammed into the faces of two of the workers. Both men were thrown off their feet as the fists rocketed by, colliding with anyone that didn't try to get out of their way.

In all, J'onn could see seven men that were felled by his attack. However, before he could pull his arms back into his body, the rest of the men began to open fire on him. Only a few shots got off, however, as Flash was once more on the move. Again, he raced by all of the men, snatching their guns right out of their hands. The few shots that had been taken missed the Martian, pelting the boxes and barrels around him.

Seeing an opportunity, instead of returning his extended arms, he separated them, the left arm swinging to the left and the right one to the right. They moved from his chest, migrating to his sides while the elongated appendages clotheslined the workers.

There were a couple that ducked the arms, only for Flash to dash by them, delivering a powerful punch that sent them flying off their feet. In a matter of seconds, all threats had been dealt with by the two heroes.

As J'onn began to recall his arms back to his body, returning them to their normal size and anatomically correct position on his body, Flash once more returned to stand next to him. "I gotta say, that was—"

Suddenly, a pair of doors on the far wall swung open, more men in black combat fatigues pouring into the room.

"...I swear, I was not going to say this was easy."

Immediately, two of them took front and center in front of their comrades. Each wore a tank on their back, with a hose connected it to a long, gun-shaped nozzle. Immediately, J'onn stiffened at the sight of them.

Flamethrowers.

The men did not hesitate as they aimed their flamethrowers at the Martian and pulled their respective triggers. Two streams of flames shot across the room towards him, J'onn frozen where he stood as he watched the approaching fire.

Flash was suddenly in front of him, both of his arms extended out in front of him. Keeping them as straight as he could, he began to rotate them each in their own circle, picking up speed with every rotation. A current of wind was formed by this motion and was directed at the flames, the two forces coming into contact mere feet in front of Flash.

Immediately, the fireballs spread out, forming half of a dome in front of the heroes. Flames reached around Flash's wind current, dying out as they licked at them the further they moved away from their source.

"Get out of here, J'onn!" the red-clad man shouted, his head tilted to a side so that he could look over his shoulder.

That shook J'onn out of his fear-induced daze. Immediately, his body became transparent and he sunk into the floor. The moment he was surrounded by the building's foundation and out of sight of the flames, he fully relaxed.

However, he was not one to remain comfortable in safety while his friend was putting his life on the line. Instantly, he surged forward, phasing through the concrete for a long distance. Because of the warehouse's telepathy inhibitors, he couldn't sense where the attackers were, but he knew distances and he was judging they were just above his head presently. Pressing on, he came to a point he believed put him right behind the group, twisting his body around before he moved upward.

And as he predicted, he came out of the floor right behind the men. However, while he had taken cover in the foundation, two of the men had moved to stand next to the men with flamethrowers, each taking aim at Flash with their machine guns. There were two men standing in between J'onn and those four attackers, which meant they would have to be dealt with first.

Moving up behind them as his body filled in with color, the Martian crossed both of his arms in front of his chest, his hands balled into fists. Immediately, he swung them out, uncrossing them as the bottom of his fists slammed into the heads of the two men, both of whom went flying in opposite directions. J'onn didn't bother watching them crash as he knew his strength, and he knew he had used the correct amount to knock them out from the initial blow.

That left the four before him. First thing was first, he needed to end the threat of the flamethrowers. Though the gunmen were taking aim, if he went after them first the men with the flamethrowers would turn on him and he wouldn't last for long. If he took out the flamethrowers first, there was still the chance that they gunmen would fire; yet, with Flash's speed, he could dodge the bullets if he needed to.

Reaching out, his hands grabbed onto the hoses attached to the gas tanks and he yanked on them hard. The hoses popped right off of the tanks, and gas immediately poured out. Even better, the flames died out, coming to a stop moments later.

This caused all four men to turn around to face the Martian, stunned looks on their collective faces. J'onn did not waste any time as he drew a hand back, the hand increasing in size until it was a large, oddly-shaped club. Swinging his arm out to his side, he then swept it from his right to his left, the club colliding with the head of the rightmost man and knocking him right off his feet. Not even stopping, his club hand nailed the next man, and the next, until it reached the leftmost one. All of them went flying to the left, landing hard on the floor where they did not so much as twitch.

Flash was suddenly at his side, looking at the Martian's handiwork. "Didn't take it too easy on them, did you?" he remarked.

"I suppose I did not," J'onn replied even as his club shrank and his hand returned to its normal form. "If you would, please locate the telepathy inhibitors and disable them. We'll be able to glean some answers then."

"Consider it done." Flash was gone in a red blur then, which left J'onn to walk to one of the fallen men, kneeling next to him. Aside from the combat fatigues, there really wasn't much he could tell from sight alone. It was times like these he was most impressed with Batman; he would've identified something about their dress even before he attempted to search them.

And then Flash was back. "I think I got them all," he said, his voice surprisingly stern. That was J'onn's first clue that something wasn't right. "But I found something else you're gonna want to see."

Turning his head to look at the red-clad man, the Martian's face immediately hardened. In his hands was a plasma rifle of Kalanorian design. The very sight of it set him on edge.

"Where did you find this?" he questioned immediately.

"In a crate in another room. I accidentally kicked it when I went in for one of those telepathy inhibitors and one of these babies popped out."

J'onn returned his attention to the fallen men. Reaching his hands out to place them on either side of the man's head, he then reached out with his mind. They needed answers and they were going to get them.

* * *

"So not only are they stealing Canidite, but they're also collecting Kalanorian tech?" John demanded, standing up from his seat as his hands pressed down on the table.

"That is what Flash and I were able to uncover," J'onn answered the Lantern, remaining seated in his chair. "From what I was able to obtain from our attackers, they had been collecting the plasma rifles since the Kalanorian Invasion."

"Great, just perfect," the former marine groused as he dropped back into his seat, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "They're doing everything they can to make themselves as dangerous as possible."

"More importantly, what are they intending on doing with all of this?" Superman questioned. While he didn't like this newest discovery, the presence of these weapons said they could not afford to be trailing their mysterious mastermind for much longer.

"It doesn't take much to figure out they intend to use all of this," Hawkgirl pointed out. "They want a technological advantage and they got it in the plasma rifles. Us finding their stores of Canidite will force them to adjust whatever plan they have, not to mention letting them know we're on their tail. They can't keep up this cloak and dagger stuff for much longer."

"We also came up with a date," J'onn added, which returned the room's attention to him. "They intend on doing something on the twenty eighth."

"That's two weeks from now," John was quick to say, "which means we have less time to put an end to this."

"Was there anything else you found out, J'onn?" Hawkgirl asked then.

The Martian shook his head in the negative. "Unfortunately not. It seems whomever we are after has been keeping their ultimate goal close to the chest. They would only inform their men of their next destination when necessary and not before."

The entire time, Diana had been quiet, which was something Superman had taken quick note of. It wasn't normal behavior for her, but she seemed to be processing everything that was said. It was something the Kryptonian was doing himself, but the puzzle pieces he had weren't sufficient to make a full picture. Part of him hoped the Amazonian Princess did.

And as he thought this, Diana finally spoke up. "Has anyone noticed that all of these findings are heading east?"

Superman looked to her with curiosity. The others were doing the same with various looks of surprise, realization, or stoicism. This allowed the dark-haired woman to continue unabated. "The Canidite was produced on the West Coast, yet the largest stockpile was found in Midway. Every lead we've found has been leading us further and further east, currently placing us on the East Coast."

"That's a good point," John admitted as he slid forward in his seat. "A lot of power centers for the country rest on the East Coast too; I think we can safely say these are where these guys intend to strike."

"So where are we looking for?" Flash asked. "Metropolis? Gotham? New York?"

"If it was me, I'd be thinking Washington," the Green Lantern replied.

A map of the North American East Coast appeared on the holographic projector. "There's a pretty important corridor here," Hawkgirl said, pointing a finger to one area. Specifically, it was the region from Boston to Northern Virginia, something Superman knew as the Northeast Corridor. It was a region filled with important cities that held great political power and historical significance to the U.S. An attack anywhere in that region was like blowing up a powder keg.

"We need to have satellite surveillance over this entire area," Superman immediately said. "We'll continue our investigation, but we need to be ready in the event we're not able to stop whatever plan is in motion. That way we can act immediately."

"Is there anything else you found?" Diana inquired.

"Nope, that was it," Flash replied.

"Then we need to go back to that warehouse," Hawkgirl declared. "There has to be something else there."

"Agreed," John responded. "I'd like to have a look at the Kalanorian tech. Maybe I can get some sort of lead from them."

"And I'll go to search it too," Hawkgirl volunteered. "Maybe a different set of eyes can find something else too."

"I would like to talk with the men Jonn and Flash apprehended," Diana added then. "Perhaps my Lasso of Truth can reveal more from them."

It was highly unlikely that would work. If J'onn couldn't read it in their minds, it was most likely it wasn't there to begin with. Still, they couldn't leave any stone unturned. "Do that," Superman told her before looking to Flash and J'onn. "The rest of us will get the satellites in place. We'll want to keep an eye on everything, especially on the 28th. Hopefully we'll pick up something long before then."

"Sounds good to me," Flash replied as he leaned back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head.

"Then we all have our assignments." Superman paused as he looked to the other Leaguers. "Meet back on the Watchtower in three hours. If we haven't found anything new, then we won't find them at all. Keep everyone informed of what you find. We're getting closer to the perpetrators.

"Now than at any time, we all need to stay safe."

* * *

To Guest: Oh, I see. Never watched that in its entirety to be honest.

To FlackAttack: I can confidently say yes and no.


	8. The Savage 28th

Very little progress had been made in the days since the Virginia warehouse had been investigated. John Stewart and Hawkgirl didn't find anything else that J'onn and Flash may have missed. Diana's interrogation of the men stationed at the warehouse hadn't revealed any new piece of information either. Anxiety grew with every passing day as their deadline approached.

It was the 28th now and the entire League was on high alert. Flash was making a patrol of the entire Northeast Corridor, crisscrossing the region multiple times an hour. Superman, Diana, John, and Hawkgirl had taken to the air and were making their own, smaller patrols over four individual areas. It had taken much planning and coordination to make sure none of the heroes were without backup being minutes away, which led to intersecting territories. Flash, of course, could be anywhere in a couple of minutes, perhaps less if pushed.

This left J'onn up in the Watchtower, monitoring the computer feeds for any sign of activity. He had been watching the satellite feeds every day for the last two weeks, coming away with nothing to warrant such scrutiny. However, he did not let feelings of frustration and doubt blind him to the fact that _something_ was going to happen. His instincts were confirming that much to him—as a colleague of his once said, "Always follow your instincts."

He fully intended on doing such.

That said, J'onn was aware that this day may be just one more step in an unknown plot before the true goal was revealed. If that were the case, then the Justice League would need to discover what that step was and use it to narrow their search further.

" _Watchtower, this is Diana,"_ the Amazon suddenly called in. The dark-haired woman was stationed in the Boston to New York area and considering her tone, she was merely calling in to report her status. " _There is no activity in my sector."_

"Understood," J'onn answered her. His attention was drawn to a computer screen that had a map of the Northeastern region of the United States. Symbols for each of the heroes were in various areas; for instance, the golden W for Diana was near Boston with her current trajectory heading for New York.

Superman's S symbol was over upstate New York, covering the majority of the state. South of that was the Green Lantern symbol over by Philadelphia, which left the Hawk symbol in Northern Virginia, currently closing in on Washington D.C. The lightning bold for Flash was moving at a greater rate than the other four, the speedster currently making his way south in New Jersey.

Speaking of whom…

" _Hey, J'onn,"_ Flash called in. " _Everything's quiet on my end. I'm about to take a short snack break, ya know, so I can keep myself in tip-top shape."_

"Very well, Flash," the Martian responded to him. "Keep me updated to your status following your break."

" _You got it, big guy."_

Ending his focus on the monitor, J'onn turned his attention to another one, this one being divided into multiple boxes. Each one was of a different news network, many of which had TV anchors reporting their area's most important news—or at least what they viewed as such. A few others showed pictures of various buildings, or people, a news report being read over the images.

The thinking was that one or multiple networks would be reporting on any unusual activity as soon as it happened. Though John had argued he doubted "some criminal mastermind would take over the airwaves to announce his plan" would happen, it was best to be cautious than not.

"You are out there," J'onn spoke, his eyes staring intently at the news screen. "Where will you strike?"

* * *

It was a relic of the Cold War. As tensions heightened between the United States and the Soviet Union, precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of the President and various cabinet members.

Below the White House was a series of tunnels made of concrete and reinforced with a layer of the period's highest quality of steel. If a nuclear strike was imminent on the East Coast, the tunnels would be accessed and would lead to a bunker that allegedly would keep its occupants safe from the nuclear fallout. It had never been used and its whereabouts forgotten after the Cold War ended.

It was because of this that it wasn't guarded nor maintained. A light film of dust had settled along the barren walls. With no access to light, it was totally dark.

First a tremor shook one of the tunnels, a dull roar growing louder with every passing second. And then a wall blew apart, sending chunks of concrete and steel flying in every direction. Most crashed against the opposite wall, while others scattered and skipped across the floor. A thick cloud of smoke flooded the tunnel, cloaking it from sight.

It took several moments before the smoke and dust began to dissipate, but before it did, men in black combat fatigues emerged from the thinning cloud. M16 assault rifles were poised at shoulder height, red beams of lights coming from targeting devices attached just below the barrel. The armed men took tactical positions throughout the tunnel, the lead man reaching a certain point in the tunnel before jerking to stand next to the wall, keeping aim further down the corridor as the next man darted ahead, going further down the tunnel before assuming the next post.

Soon, calls of "All clear!" rang out. By then, the smoke cloud had disappeared, revealing a large hole in the wall. Even more men came out, surrounding a man in a dark, military uniform. His black hair was slicked back, a neatly trimmed mustache and beard covering his face. His eyes examined the fortified tunnel in an instant.

"Sir, the Canidite worked," a soldier informed him.

"Of course, it did," he scoffed. "Onto the next phase; it's only a matter of time before the Secret Service remembers these tunnels are down here. I want the entrances covered before they have a chance to set up their position."

"Yes, Sir!" The man made a gesture with one hand and the positioned men immediately took off towards the ends and intersections of the tunnel, vanishing from sight. In the meantime, the black-suited man and his entourage began making their way to the right, reaching the end of the corridor where they were forced to make a left turn. Further up ahead was one such door he had mentioned, a hive of red dots covering the steel door.

Next to the door was a panel, which one man was currently working on. He was entering the pass code for the door to open and succeeded moments later. The man came to a stop as the door opened and his men then swept through the opening.

Immediately, there was gunfire ringing out, all from automatic weapons. There was an occasional handgun, but these men, these mercenaries were the best of the best. With the element of surprise, there was no way they would lose.

The man raised a hand up and looked at a watch. Everything was going according to schedule. Soon, the White House would be his.

* * *

The first sign that J'onn received that something was wrong was when one of the news stations became a picture of static. Turning his attention to the monitor, he watched as the static crackled over the screen before a picture slowly emerged.

J'onn immediately recognized the background as the Oval Office. The open drapes revealed a window that showed the Washington D.C. skyline. However, the man sitting behind the President's desk was most certainly not the current President.

" _Good evening,"_ a man with black hair greeted the television audience. " _My name is Vandal Savage and as you can see, I am seated in the Oval Office. As of ten minutes ago, I have seized control of the White House and have taken its inhabitant's hostage. Their ultimate fate, however, is out of my hands."_

" _Hey, J'onn?"_ Flash's voice came through the Martian's comm link. " _I'm standing in front of an electronics store and it's showing some creepy guy in the White House. You getting this?"_

"I am," the green man immediately answered.

" _I am fully aware of the U.S. military's capabilities,"_ this Vandal Savage continued, " _and if a move is made on the White House, I will execute each and every hostage I have, which includes the President. If I feel a threat is imminent, I will not hesitate to blow the White House sky high._

" _There is only one course of action this country has: accept me as your new leader and no one will be harmed. Because I am a generous man, I will give this country's remaining leaders until dawn to inform me of my new position. If I don't hear back by then, well, I can't guarantee the safety of the 535 Congressional families._

" _Remember, until dawn."_

And then the feed cut off, the screen going black. Immediately, J'onn was on the comm. "Attention all Justice League members: the White House has been invaded."

There was a brief moment of silence before he got a response. " _Dear God,"_ John swore. " _I'm in route, shouldn't take me more than fifteen minutes."_

"I must warn you, there are hostages. The leader is threatening to kill them if the military takes any action," J'onn quickly told him.

" _Then it's a good thing I'm not with the military then."_

" _I'm with you there, buddy,"_ Flash chimed them. " _I'll meet you there."_

" _Not before me, you're not,"_ Hawkgirl spoke. " _I'm on the outskirts of D.C., in view of the White House. I"ll take point."_

There was no point in holding them back, even though J'onn felt caution was their best choice here. The entire League was full of uneasy energy and it was bursting at the seams when they began their patrols.

"Be careful," he said instead. "We do not know their full armory aside from the Canidite and the Kalanorian weapons. Do not put yourself in unnecessary risk."

* * *

 _Unnecessary risk? Pfft…_

Shayera couldn't help the smirk that was on her face. J'onn was right to be concerned; she was fully intent on barging through the front doors and beating down anyone and everyone she came across. The others probably had the same thoughts as well.

Of course, they were going to have take care of her sloppy seconds.

She hadn't been lying about the White House being within sight. Even as she drew closer to it, she could see the roof quite clearly. With her heightened eyesight, she could pick out several men on the rooftop, getting into position, no doubt as snipers. When she got in view of the front lawn, she could see it was most definitely different than what the brochures showed.

What looked like riot shields the police used—and large ones at that—were at strategic positions between the building and the front gate. The metal shields were easily three normal riot shields across, which meant three gunmen could conceivably hide behind them. Soaring in at the angle she was, she could make out a couple men behind each shield, armed with gun-shaped weapons. There was no telling if they were your average machine gun or a plasma rifle, especially since the men kept their weapons close to their bodies.

Eyeing the White House, she couldn't help but notice the lack of damage to the exterior. If this place was invaded like J'onn had said, why was it still intact? What, did they dig a hole under the building and popped up right in the middle?

Drawing her mace, Shayera shook that thought off. A fight was right in front of her, the cries of war shrieking in her ears. Well, that could've been the wind, but that would've just ruined the mood.

Passing over the fence, the Thanagarian dove, heading right for the nearest metal barricade. She didn't make a sound as she glided towards them, her hands clutching tightly on her mace's handle.

Then, at the last second, she let out her war cry. "Haaaaaaaaahhh!" A heartbeat later and the head of her mace smashed into the shield, a huge dent cratering right where she struck it. The force that hit it threw the shield off balance, causing it to fall right on top of the two surprised gunmen, both of whom cried out as they were crushed underneath it.

Agilely, Shayera immediately swooped over the ground and to the right, lifting back up into the air, but not before she reached another riot shield. It suffered the same fate as its predecessor as she slammed her mace against it, knocking it over and on top of the men hiding behind it.

By then, however, the rest of the armed men had taken notice of her and opened fire. Whatever questions the winged woman had about their arms were immediately answered as bullets flew at her, and energy beams burned through the air. Jerking to one side, and then the other, she dodged the firepower, gritting her teeth as a plasma blast flew right above her left wing, another below her right, and bullets whizzed all around her.

Suddenly she wished she had a shield in front of her.

That said, she just had to make use of one that had been there for nearly two centuries. Lifting higher and higher into the air, she soared right for the side of the White House, taking cover behind its corner, pieces of its exterior being chipped off by the bullets as she passed it. An energy beam cut right through the corner and just missed taking out her legs, something she was grateful for.

Of course, that was when gunshots were made from above her.

Instantly, Shayera dipped back to the ground, the manicured lawn being pelted by hot lead as dirt was launched up into the air around her. The men on the roof, she groused. She'd be dealing with them in a moment, though. Reaching the next corner, she hugged it as she turned around it.

There was a slight reprieve from the machine guns, which gave the Thanagarian the time she needed to fly straight up. By the time she reached the roof, one of the gunmen had appeared, looking over the edge to get a shot at her.

For all of his efforts, she greeted him with by extending her leg in front of her, keeping it bent at the knee. Said knee rammed into his face and sent him flying backwards and onto the ground, where he laid sprawled out. Immediately cutting to her left, she plowed into another gunman, her bent elbow finding its way into the man's face and knocking him out cold before he even touched back down on the roof.

That took care of two of the men here; the others she couldn't see at the moment, but she'd worry about that later; right now she wanted to get back to the front.

Soaring once more, the moment she reached the front side of the building, she saw she had company. Flash was dashing from one side of the front lawn to the other as he avoided all of the firepower being aimed at him.

Well, well, look who had made himself a distraction. Diving back down to the ground, Shayera made her way to the men positioned closest to the White House. With Flash out front and her from the rear, they could take these guys out with a classic pincer maneuver. Swooping up as she reached the grass, she closed in on the two men, who had their backs to her. Leaning backwards at the last second, she swung a leg out and delivered a kick to the side of the leftmost man's head, knocking him clear out from his cover, flying headfirst into he crashed back onto the ground. Spinning around in a circle in midair, she kept the same leg extended and smashed it against the back of the other man's head, sending him face first into the riot shield. The metal barricade shook from the blow, but held itself in place.

And she was on the move again. Holding her mace out in front of her face, she began to twirl it in a circle with her hands, making it go faster and faster until it was a blur in front of her. By then, the next two gunmen had spotted her and were firing machine guns at her—thankfully they were bullets. The sound of the bullets clanging against her mace as she closed the distance between them was loud, but nothing she couldn't handle.

A second later and she plowed right into the two, knocking the first man she hit right into his friend behind him. While the second guy hit the ground, Shayera stopped spinning her mace and grabbed the first guy she could reach by his shirt. Rising up into the air, she lifted the man up with her, timing herself just right before she let go of him, sending the guy screaming as he fell back to earth. Of course, he landed on two of his buddies behind another riot shield.

Veering in her flight, she caught sight of Flash racing back across the lawn, this time going right behind a riot shield and knocking the two gunmen there out. He reached the edge of the lawn before making an abrupt turn and racing back the other way.

Counting the rest of the barricades, Shayera felt confident Flash could handle the ones remaining on his own. That left her with clearing out the roof. Turning back towards the White House, she caught sight of three men at the edge of the roof, looking over to see Flash's handiwork. This, of course, lined them right next to each other, which was easy pickings. Flying towards the side of the building, she made an abrupt turn and flew parallel with the roof's ledge. None of the men knew what hit them until she barreled right through all three of them. All of them cried out as they were hit, but fell silent the moment they hit the roof.

Flaring her wings out, the winged woman came to land on the roof, looking over the edge to see how her friend was doing. "I've got the roof clear," she said over her comm link.

She didn't get an immediate reply, instead seeing a red blur dash towards a riot shield. However, it was one that had men already unconscious, thanks to the Thanagarian herself, which caused Flash to come to a stop next to it. " _Front is secured,"_ he replied to her. " _How are things up top?"_

There was a sudden explosion from the back of the White House. Launching herself up into the air, Shayera caught sight of a familiar green light—in this case, a giant mallet. It seemed John was here and he was taking on the barricades on the back lawn. In all honesty, Shayera wasn't sure how many were back there since she hadn't been paying attention; she had been more concerned with the gunmen on the roof at the tame. That was all fine though, John was more than capable of handling that on his own.

"Looks like John's joined the party," she remarked. "Superman and Diana must be on their way as well."

Of course, that was when a bright light appeared next to her and J'onn appeared, hovering in midair with her. She knew a teleportation light when she saw it and it seemed the Martian wanted in the action as well. "J'onn here too," she quickly added.

" _Great, so now we go in?"_

"Damn straight." She then addressed J'onn. "I'm going in through the roof, how about you?"

"I will do the same," the Martian intoned.

She then switched back to her comm link. "J"onn and I are going through the ceiling for the upper floors; you take the front, Flash. I'm sure John can go through the back when he's done."

" _Sounds good to me, Wings. See ya inside."_

Looking to J'onn, she then said, "Ladies first," a smirk on her face. Not waiting for a response, she then dove back to the roof. There was no doubt a roof access somewhere, but where was the fun in using that?

* * *

Alright, the front of the White House was secure. Hawkgirl and J'onn were about to do some damage on the upper levels, and GL would be coming in through the back. That just left Flash with kicking in the front door.

He could do that.

In the blink of an eye, he was right in front on the wooden doors. Part of him wanted to knock for propriety's sake, but since he was kinda in a hurry, he'd save that for another time. Grabbing the door handles, he twisted them only to find they wouldn't budge.

 _Huh, who would've thunk they would've locked the doors…_

There was a pretty easy fix for that. Releasing the door handles, Flash began to vibrate his body, appearing to shake to the naked eye. He moved forward and slid right through the doors as if they weren't there. Slowly, the encroaching sight of the doors coming to him were filled with the wood itself for a moment before it changed to the front lobby.

The normally clean room was most definitely not that. There were bodies of Secret Servicemen sprawled about the place, their bodies riddled with bullets and blood pooling around their corpses. Blood spatters painted the walls, either as big spots or tiny droplets.

However, Flash wasn't the only living person here. It seemed his and Hawkgirl's exercise outside had alerted everyone inside the White House to their presence and there were quite a few guards with guns aimed right at him.

Those guns turned out to be the space laser guns as multiple gunmen fired at him, beams of yellow light burning through the air. Flash didn't stop his vibrating as the energy blasts hit, then passed right through him harmlessly. The same couldn't be said of the doors as holes were burned right through the wood.

The moment the beams had successfully went through him, Flash stopped his vibrating and took off running. He didn't even blink his eyes as he slammed a fist into one man's face, not even pausing to watch him go flying backwards and into two of his friends that happened to be standing right there.

No, Flash was most interested in the stairs. There were two staircases in the room, one to the left and the other to the right. Both staircases had men stationed on the steps and the red-clad man wanted to take them all out quickly. Going to his left, he ran up the stairs, dodging left and right as he weaved his way through the men. He didn't pass them without striking out though; to the ones on the left, he'd punch them in their clean-shaven faces and the ones on the right he'd push hard enough for them to go flipping over the railing. By the time he had reached the top of the stairs, he stopped to look at his handiwork, watching as gunmen either had their faces pressed into the wall or were in the process of hitting them, or were in mid-flip as they slowly edged their way over the stair's railing.

Heh, it was times like these he enjoyed the slowing down of time when he ran.

Going back to business, he darted to the start of the other staircase, finding a gunman slowly stepping down a step. Figuring he'd give the guy some help, Flash came up behind him and gave him a gentle push—a push that sent the guy stumbling forward and falling face first into the man in front of him.

Stopping right there, time sped up over the course of a second. The sound of multiple skulls cracking against the wall rang out, coupled with the screams of the men falling over the railing of the stairs, which ended when they landed headfirst on the floor.

That was just one set of stairs. As for the other one, the domino effect was in full gear. The gunman at the top of the stairs—the man Flash had pushed— fell right into the one in front of him, who in turned plunging forward to collide with their comrade before them. It was almost parody as armed men awkwardly lunged forward, knocking over the man in front of them, before falling onto the stairs. And as luck would have it, many of them hit their heads either on the steps—or for the ones on the lower steps, the floor—which knocked them out cold. Their limp bodies slid down the stairs until a pile of bodies rested at the foot of the staircase.

Spotting a couple of heads poking themselves out of the heap of body parts, Flash quickly leapt onto the railing and slid down it, jumping at the last second to land on the floor. Darting to the pile, he quickly grabbed the back of one of the heads and slammed it down on the floor. He did this for the rest of the moving, groaning heads until no one else budged.

Well then, the lobby was clear. Time to check the rest of the White House.

Eyeing an archway on the right side of the room, Flash dashed to it and through it, only to skid to a stop as he threw his head and shoulders back as he leaned as far backwards as he could. An energy beam flew right over his face, courtesy of a plasma rifle-toting gunman.

The moment the blast passed, Flash darted back through the archway and took cover around the corner, his back pressed up against a wall. That had been close; it was a good thing he was so flexible, otherwise he'd have a nice, burning hole in his face and he was rather fond of keeping his handsome mug unblemished.

So what to do? If he tried running headfirst at the guy, he'd take a laser beam to the head again. That wasn't the smart way to go. If he could get around the guy and hit him from behind, it would end everything in an instant.

That was entirely doable, actually. Considering the room itself was right along the front wall of the building, there was no need to actually go search for a room behind it. Dashing off, he went out the front door and ran along the long porch of the White House, stopping immediately where he knew the gunman was. Vibrating his body again, he slipped through the wall, coming out slightly behind the guy as he kept his plasma rifle trained on the doorway. Heck, Flash could just barely make out the last vestiges of his blur as it faded from sight through the archway.

Fully through the wall, Flash stopped his vibration and raised an arm up. Chopping the gunman on the back of his neck, the guy's body went limp and he dropped to the floor in a heap.

See? Simple.

"Snooze, ya lose, buddy," Flash quipped, a smile growing on his face before he took off to search the rest of the building.

* * *

To Guest: That would be no. The Toy Weapons was just a cover to transport actual weapons, since some toys are designed to look realistic. As for the significance of the 28th, I don't really have any. More to just show the passage of time than anything.


	9. Bang!

It seemed the fighting had already started.

Part way flying to D.C. from the Tri-state area, Superman had joined up with Diana. Both were two of the fastest people in the world, so it was no trouble keeping up with the other, though if push came to shove, the Kryptonian thought he was the faster one. He wouldn't say that to an ultra-competitive Amazon, though.

From where they flew, the two could make out the front and back lawns of the White House. The front had several men sprawled unconscious over it, with what looked like large riot shields next to, or on top of, them. The back lawn also had unconscious men, but there was considerably more damage done to the lawn. Trenches and burnt grass were scattered randomly over the area. That wasn't Flash, or Hawkgirl, or even J'onn's handiwork, so that left John as the most likely one to cause that damage.

However, since neither of the four were visible, that meant they were already inside the White House. "I'll go in through the front," Superman said as the two heroes began to descend on the building. "You take the back."

"On it," Diana agreed before she drifted towards the back lawn. Superman, in the meantime, landed on the front porch, quickly noticing the open front door. Cautiously, he stepped through the threshold and caught sight of the lobby.

There were quite a few unconscious men here, many of whom were either lying on the rightmost staircase, or at its foot. Others were scattered on the floor, or on the leftmost stairs. Machine guns and plasma rifles were also lying on the floor.

Immediately, Superman used his super speed and sped throughout the room, picking up each and every weapon he could find. He even found one in a small antechamber with another unconscious man there. Finishing with all of the weapons in a pile on the floor, the dark-haired man's eyes glowed red before he fired his heat vision. Mere seconds passed as the guns began to melt, leaving them inoperable. When he stopped, he looked at a pile of melted metal.

Next, Superman turned his head to the rest of the room, focusing on his X-ray vision. Unfortunately, he quickly realized just how antiquated the building was with its former use of lead paints, lead piping, and just lead in general. It wasn't like looking at a Lexcorp building, but he was getting partial views throughout the building.

Not good.

Yet, despite this unexpected handicap, he was able to pick out movement on the second floor. Floating off the floor, he flew up until he landed right at the top of the rightmost stairs. Seeing a hallway, he started walking down it.

Still using his X-ray vision, he was thankful the doors were relatively new as he could see right through them, allowing him to skip checking each and every room physically.

This allowed him to focus right on a room at the end of the hallway. There were two men with weapons in their hands, their advanced mechanics indicating they were plasma rifles. There were three other people, all of whom were kneeling on the floor—hostages.

Reaching the door, Superman opened it, causing both of the gunmen to jerk around to look at him. Not giving them a chance to react further, the Kryptonian shot towards them with super speed, slamming his fist into the first man, then the second half a heartbeat later. Each blow sent each man flying through the air and into the wall, the unconscious men dropping to the floor a moment later.

Turning his attention to the hostages, he saw two women openly weeping from relief, a man murmuring under his breath, "Thank God, thank God."

Moving to the man, Superman knelt down in front of him. "Can you tell me where the others are?" he asked seriously.

The gentleman shook his head. "They caught everyone off guard. Everyone scattered at the first sight of the guns. Sharon, Melony, and me got stopped in here and this is where we've been ever since."

"Are there any other places people would've run to?"

He paused for a moment. "All of the exits are on the first floor, but there are a couple staircases people would've headed for. You'll want to check the East Wing. That's where most would've headed to since the Secret Service would've locked down the West Wing."

Superman nodded. "I'll see you three to the front door. Once you get out, go to the police."

* * *

"Haaaaaaaa!"

Shayera was in her element. It had been a long time since she had been in close quarters combat, but her very blood was boiling as she clashed with gunman after gunman.

She and J'onn were in a wide open corridor, which led right into a much larger chamber and then another wide hallway on the other side. The two were working their way to the chamber with its paintings and the table and plants that were situated right in the middle of the room.

The Thanagarian was in the lead, her mace having just recently nailed one of her foes in the head. The punk now had his head in the wall, the rest of his body hanging limply from the hole. To her left, J'onn shot by her, delivering a powerful blow to another armed man a short distance away from her. The guy's head snapped to a side even as the Martian grabbed him with his other hand and then hefted him up off the floor. In one fluid motion, J'onn slammed the guy against the wall, causing the wall to shatter and leave a crumbling hole in its wake.

As it so happened, there were a couple more men in the room on the other side of the hole and J'onn immediately charged at them. Trusting her friend to take care of matters there, Shayera pressed on, reaching the entrance to the room before her.

If she was expecting a big fight here, she was sadly disappointed. Before her were three men, each with large, bulky guns. Their barrels were rectangular and shape, each one pointed right at her. Whatever these things did, they wouldn't stop her. She wouldn't give them an inch.

"Take her down!" the lead guy shouted and all three fired their weapons. Bolts of what looked like lightning flew at her, causing the Thanagarian to widen her eyes just before she raised her mace up. Each bolt struck the head of her mace, thankfully touching the Nth metal only. However, the force of the collective blasts were starting to push her backwards.

Gritting her teeth, bolts of electricity began to dance over the head of the mace. Pushing her weapon out and up in front of her, she let out a war cry as she then swung her mace to one side, redirecting the electrical blasts from her and towards a wall. An explosion erupted, the force of the blast knocking all four of them off of their feet. Shayera let out a cry as her left shoulder collided with the wall next to her, but that thankfully helped her keep upright, unlike her opponents.

Eyeing where the detonation occurred, the smoke slowly revealed a rather large hole where the wall had been. As it so happened, she could see right out of the White House and out into the D.C. skyline. Shayera hated to think of what would've happened had she not tossed aside those blasts.

Which is why she took off flying the moment she could. The leader was just now pushing himself off the floor, leaving him vulnerable to the redhead as she drew a leg back and the swung it forward, slamming her foot into his face and knocking him out cold.

The next closest man was back and to the right, so she went after him next. The guy had managed to get onto his knees and was in the process of raising up his electricity gun. He never got a chance to fire it as Shayera rammed her knee into his face, stopping him cold.

Unfortunately, that was as far as she got as electricity struck her in the back. The winged woman screamed as her back was seared, her muscles spasming and going into tetanus. The moment it stopped, she collapsed to the floor, smoke wafting up from her body. Teeth clenched tightly, her head trembled as she turned it to look behind her.

As she expected, the last man was rising to his feet, his weapon clutched tightly in his hands as he had the barrel aimed right at her. "This is as far as you go, alien," he growled, a menacing glow beginning to build in the barrel.

And then a pair of white beams struck the man's hand, causing him to yelp as he dropped the energy gun. Seeing her opening as the guy clutched his hand, Shayera reared up on her knees and twisted her upper body around. Swinging her arm out, she let go of her grip on her mace's handle and set it flying at her foe, where it slammed right into his face and sent him crashing to the floor.

"Are you alright?" J'onn asked her as he seemed to drift into the room. Shayera was positive the Martian was walking, but thanks to his cape, she couldn't see his feet moving.

Getting up to her own feet, Shayera rolled her shoulders, ignoring some of the tightness—and no doubt burns—in her back. "I'll live. Just wasn't as fast as I thought I was."

J'onn nodded his acceptance before he moved to inspect the electrical gun. "This isn't Kalanorian," he commented after a moment. "It looks like it originated on Earth."

"So that makes it some sort of pulse gun? A giant taser?" the redhead remarked, raising an eyebrow up.

"Possibly. Regardless, they're quite effective on you. I think it's possible these invaders may have weapons tailor-made to our weaknesses."

That raised alarms in Shayera's head. "How do you think they could come up with those?" she demanded.

"We've been around for several years, Hawkgirl. It's not too surprising for even the casual onlooker to pick up on what's effective against us. It's widely-known that Superman is susceptible to Kryptonite. With the number of villains we've come across, someone would've come up with a way to strike at us."

"And considering the number of villains we've fought, none of them have," she pointed out. "I mean, there's only been one guy that targeted us that way specifically and he's dead. It would have to take someone of his intelligence to do the same."

"Which is how we'll have to progress if we are to stop this Vandal Savage," J'onn replied.

That was a fair point. Considering this Savage guy had been able to stay underground right up until this moment, he wasn't someone to trifle with. Though he had threatened to kill hostages if the military showed up, he hadn't said the same about the Justice League.

Now that was strange. Why wouldn't he make that threat? Was he that unconcerned with them? They were taking out his goon squad left and right with some—but not much—difficulty. It was as if he were expecting them.

She didn't like that thought.

"We better tell the others," Shayera said as she raised a hand up to her comm link. However, when she hit the button, a sharp, squealing, static sound blared into her ear, causing her to hiss as she immediately stopped the transmission.

"What's wrong?" J'onn asked instantly.

"There's a radio jammer on the grounds," Shayera growled. "We're basically cut off from the others."

J'onn normally stoic face grew serious. "Then we need to regroup with Flash and Green Lantern quickly."

* * *

It wasn't all that hard to find John. The trail of unconscious men he left in his wake made for excellent bread crumbs.

It also didn't hurt that he gave off a green light every time he attacked.

Diana managed to track the Green Lantern down, finding him engaged with plasma rifle fire. John stood in a room, by a doorway, a green shield construct in front of him, yet there was something wrong. It only took a second for the Amazon to realize what it was.

There were cracks throughout the shield and they were growing larger. There was visible strain on the Lantern's face and if she wasn't mistaken, she could see a couple beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face. It was hard to fathom considering Diana knew it took considerable power for the Green Lantern ring to be overpowered. Yet, from what she could see, it was only a few energy beams. There was nothing special about them, just ordinary, yellow beams.

It would do no good for her to go charging through the open doorway. There had to be another way. Moving further down the hall, Diana came across another door, one that was opened ajar. Carefully she approached it, peeking through the crack between the door and the frame.

The dark-haired woman couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. Through the crack she could see three men, each holding a plasma rifle, completely focused on John. Eyeing a bust of some important figure on the opposite side of the room, a plan began to form inside her mind.

Hand falling to her hip, she took a hold of her lasso, letting it uncoil as she held onto one end, the rest falling to lay on the floor. Grabbing the door by its side, she then yanked it open and moved into the doorway. This move drew a couple of the gunmen's attention, but it wasn't enough for them to react as she whipped the free end of the lasso at them.

Or rather, right between them. The golden coils wrapped around the marble bust tightly and with a flick of her wrist, Diana pulled it right off of its stand and sent it crashing against the back of one of the men, making him cry out as he stumbled to the floor before her, falling to his knees.

This immediately cut off all of the plasma beams as all three men released the trigger voluntarily or involuntarily. Taking a step forward, Diana delivered a kick to the kneeling man's face. He jerked backwards and fell to his back, his legs staying at an odd angles.

Letting go of her lasso, Diana followed through with her kick with a spin, bringing her extended leg down to ground so she could stand on it while simultaneously whipping out her other leg. The heel of her red boot slammed into the second gunman's arm, a satisfying _crack!_ being made as the bone snapped. The armed man screamed wildly as the force of the blow caused him to stumble to a side, bumping into the wall as he dropped his weapon, gripping his injured arm before he dropped to his knees.

As Diana brought her leg back down, she then lunged at the man, drawing up her knee to ram it against the back of his head, causing his face to collide with the wall. He slumped to the floor in a heap after that.

By then, the Amazon was turning around to face the last gunman. Unfortunately, he had his plasma rifle aimed at her and was taking the shot. That only left her time to get her bracer up just in time for the beam to collide with it. The metal of her bracelet heated up immediately, but it wasn't unbearable; she had felt hotter before.

However, it wasn't ricocheting off, instead forcing the Amazon to hold her ground. Surprisingly there wasn't much force behind the blast, which went completely against what she saw with John. Pushing that thought aside for the moment, she began to force her way forward, closing the distance between her and the gunman with every surefooted step she took.

She never got the chance to finish the man off, however. There was a flash of green and the armed man let out a pained cry. The yellow beam promptly ended as the thug body stiffened, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. There was smoke coming off his back as he fell forward, dropping his gun as he landed on his stomach.

"I had him," Diana said as she lowered her arm.

"I'm sure you did," John replied as he walked up to her. "Just consider it thanks for bailing me out there."

A small smile appeared on her face. "I can accept that." She then turned her attention to the plasma rifles, causing a frown to form. "You were struggling too much with these plasma rifles. Was something wrong?"

"You have to be joking," John retorted. "It felt like...well, that you were wailing on me."

That couldn't be right. "Did you not see me?" she questioned then. "I was pushing up against it quite easily. In fact, had you not defeated him, I would have."

John frowned at that. He then looked down at the plasma rifles sternly. "The ring doesn't have many weaknesses. Fear is the main one, but that's a state of mind, nothing physical unless you count the yellow rings."

That made Diana look up at her comrade. "Yellow rings?"

"Yeah, a former member of the Green Lantern Corp went rogue once. Created his own Corps using a fear-based weapon: the Yellow Lantern rings. They've proven to be a difficult match."

Though surprising, that did explain why John had struggled with the energy beams—yellow ones, she mentally reminded herself. And if someone had made a power ring for it...

"Would it be possible to make a fear-based weapon technologically?"

John was about to answer, yet he paused. "I would say it was impossible, but that isn't necessarily so," he ultimately said. "I highly doubt it on Earth, but we've seen weirder things before."

"So if one were to make a fear-based weapon, what would it look like?"

A scowl appeared on the Green Lantern's face. "A yellow blast."

There was a silence between the two of them until John continued, "This can't be coincidence." Looking to the Amazonian Princess, he said, "We have to find the others—now."

Diana couldn't help but agree.

* * *

This was the last hallway on the first floor. Any and all hostages that had been found had been quickly evacuated; the bad guys were left to lie in their own drool.

That just left the bad guys in this hall.

Deciding on doing reconnaissance over just speeding around the corner and giving each and every one of these guys a dirt nap, Flash peeked around the corner, counting five of them armed to the teeth. The men alternated which side of the corridor they were in, three on the left and two on the right. There were a couple of doors, all of which were damaged. Flash highly doubted someone was hiding in them, or being held wherever the doors led. The only one that wasn't damaged was the door at the end of the hallway.

 _Well, time to get to work._

Pulling back away from the corner, Flash backed away a few steps before he sunk down to the ground. Hands pressed on the carpeted floor, his legs set on the floor, and his self-proclaimed tight butt up in the air, the red-clad man looked at the sharp right turn and then took off, time seeming to slow down as it was left behind.

Shooting around the corner, Flash was at the first man in less than a blink of an eye. Grabbing the gun, forced it up and shoved it into the gunman's face, then took off to the second man, opting to ram his elbow into the right side of the guy's face. Darting to the third, Flash buried his fist in the man's gut, causing him to start doubling over. With his other hand, he delivered a chop to the back of the neck.

Onto the fourth, where Flash grabbed the man by his combat fatigues and pulled on him as hard as he could. Spinning his body, he lifted the guy right off the floor and sent him flying towards the fifth and last gunman.

And then time sped up. The first man hit himself in the face with his gun and promptly dropped to the floor. The second jerked to his left, the side of his head bashing against the wall and knocking him out. The third just dove face first into the carpet and didn't so much as twitch. That left the fourth and fifth guys to crash into each other and fall to the floor in a heap.

Seeing as none of the bad guys were moving, Flash raised an arm up and rubbed his forearm back and forth across his forehead. Well, that was a job well done.

Which just left the last, unharmed door. Turning to it, the red-clad man grabbed the doorknob and gave it a twist. The door opened and he was through the doorway in an instant. It was here Flash found himself in what must have been the ballroom, though it was too small for that, in his humble opinion. It was definitely a dining room and a large one at that. He imagined this was where the President wined and dined his important guests.

However, the room was clearly not ready for guests. What must have been a very long dining table had been tipped onto its side and shoved up against the wall, specifically the one with all of the windows. The chandelier was at least intact, but the ceiling had a lot of bullet holes in it. There was another doorway on the other side of the room, which must have lead to the kitchen, or so the speedster thought.

Seeing nothing worth hanging around for, he raced to the other side of the room, coming to a stop at the other door. However, before he could attempt to open it, the door was flung open and a yellow energy blast hit him right in the chest.

"Ahhhhh!" Flash screamed as he was flung backwards, landing hard on his back several feet into the room. That hurt! It really, really hurt! Tilting his head up, he noticed some smoke wafting from the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, though the symbol itself was darkened by soot.

Oh, this had just gotten personal.

In an instant, Flash was kneeling on one foot and knee, ready to show everyone who exactly the boss was. He first noticed four more of the combat fatigue-dress men, each holding plasma rifles. There was no telling which one had been the one to tag him, so he was just going to have to hit them all a little harder than usual.

Flash took off to his left then, just as the four men fired their Kalanorian weapons. The beams hit the floor where he had been kneeling, leaving a nice scorch mark on the floor. Before any one of them knew what hit them, the speedster dashed right in front of the group, his fist colliding with the leftmost man's face and knocking him clear off his feet. Flash kept on going until he reached the wall before he dashed back, hitting the rightmost man this time as he passed by. He repeated the same action again, taking out the guy in the back and then made one more pass to take down the last standing gunman. He then circled around to come standing right in front of the group of newly-unconscious men, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down on his handiwork with pride.

Now that was how you showed someone you were pissed.

Of course, things couldn't have ended just like that. The door he had used to enter the dining room was suddenly flung open, more of the gunmen pouring into the room. Turning to look at them, Flash didn't once lose his cocky smirk, watching as...whoa, that was a good eight guys there. It seemed they were ready to take him serious now.

"So, you guys want a beatdown too?" the red-clad man called out, shifting his hands to rest on his hips. "I know, I'm a popular guy and I'll try to share every bit of me."

"How generous."

The voice had come from behind Flash, causing him to frown. Whipping his head around, he caught sight of a dark blue ray coming right for him. The ray itself seemed to project an endless line of circles, ones that hit him and suddenly Flash couldn't stand. It was as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, crushing him down. His knees buckled and he dropped to the floor, shooting his hands out to catch himself from falling flat on his face.

 _What the hell is going on?!_ his mind shouted. Seriously, why did it feel as if the world was _so_ heavy? He could barely keep himself up like this!

And then it stopped, though the feeling of being a hundred tons did not go away. Arms screaming in protest, Flash found himself dropping until his forearms were resting on the floor, his upper arms keeping him up. The sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention and he struggled to raise his head up.

It was him, the guy on the television that announced his take over the White House—Vandal Savage. His black suit covered him from neck to foot, save for the bulky-looking gauntlet on his right hand, one that was pointed right at the red-clad man. "I must say, this is how I always wanted to meet you, Flash," Savage told him.

The speedster was pretty sure this guy was being condescending to him and he wasn't going to take it. At least, that was his plan as he began to force himself up; the moment he did, Savage fired that strange blue beam at him, the beam itself coming from the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his palm. Again, he felt like he was being crushed to the floor, the floor itself groaning from the strain of holding up his weight. He couldn't see it because of the carpet, but he could certainly imagine the cracks that were forming beneath him.

And then the beam stopped. "Marvelous, isn't it?" Savage remarked casually. "You're probably wondering what I just did to you."

"Yeah, you could say that," Flash grunted out through clenched teeth.

"What this gauntlet of mine does is dramatically increase the gravitational pull of its target—in this case, you. You may be the Fastest Man Alive, but you can't run if you weight a few tons."

Well, that certainly explained that. However, the effects had to be temporary; why else would Savage hit him with another blast? No doubt he would do it again the moment the speedster so much as twitched. He needed to stall for time, so that he could recover and get back to normal. Then he could use his speed to take this guy out.

"That's a pretty fancy toy," he remarked, keeping his eyes on the dark-haired man. "I'd love to know where you got it from."

A smirk appeared on Savage's face. "I invented it myself. In fact, I'm sure your friends are encountering many of my other inventions. Admittedly, they're modified versions of the Kalanorian weapons, but it would've been a waste to not upgrade them."

"So what? This was all a trap for us?"

"Partially. As of right now, I am the Commander and Chief of this country. I just knew the Justice League would come to stop me once I usurped the President, so why not take precautions? I can eliminate the Justice League at the same time I take on the mantel as the Leader of the Free World."

"Then what was the need for the Canidite?" Flash pressed. He could feel his body beginning to lighten, so this was working. He just needed to keep it going a little longer.

"Beneath the White House is a maze of tunnels, a relic from the Cold War. In order to breach them, a powerful explosive was needed—the Canidite in this case. I did have other uses for it, but your friends found my supply, so I was limited with what I could use."

 _C'mon, almost there._ "Well, that is sort of what we do," he verbally jabbed.

"Yes, it is." Savage then reached inside of his suit jacket and pulled out a rather bizarre-looking gun. It was shaped like a handgun, except its barrel was much longer, its circumference larger than normal, and it had metal rings encircling it at even intervals from one end to the other. "Now let me introduce you to another of my inventions. This is what I call a handheld rail gun. The shell that's in the chamber is quite heavy, but the magnetic rings help fire it at the same speed as a cannonball. Allow me to show you."

Flash tried to move, really, he did. But his body was still sluggish from the gravity beams he had been subjected to. He couldn't even vibrate his body with any success. All of this combined to leave him helpless as he watched Vandal Savage calmly aim his fancy rail gun right at his face.

 _BANG!_

* * *

To Guest: Vandal Savage doesn't have the notoriety as some villains do. Some of Batman's lesser known villains are more known than him, even though Savage is a deadlier foe, just as Flash has discovered.


	10. Never Again

They heard the bang, even as they rushed through a hallway of unconscious men. The sound had caused Diana and John to slow their pace as they looked to each other questioningly.

"I think we've found the last bit of resistance here," the Green Lantern said, his green aura brightening as he tightened his ring hand into a fist.

"Then let's bring this to an end," Diana returned before she dashed off to the wide open doors at the end of the hall. She could see the backs of many gunmen, all of whom seemed to be focused on something else in the room they stood in. What a chance for a surprise attack.

Picking up her pace, Diana rushed at them, leaning to a side and bracing her body as she rammed her shoulder into an armed man's back. The blow sent him flying through the air, knocking over two of his comrades and sending all three of them to the floor. This brought everyone's attention onto the Amazon.

That was when multiple green beams of light flew by Diana on all sides, causing her hair to whip around her face as they passed by, each beam forming large boxing gloves at their heads. Three of the men took the punches to their face, snapping their heads backwards they fell to the floor.

Because of this, however, Diana got a good look at what just so happened to captivate the men long enough for the two Leaguers to get the drop on them. A man in black clothes held a gun-shaped weapon in his hand, standing over the limp form of Flash. There was a distinctive red puddle growing from his head, spreading out over the carpet.

The dark-haired woman felt her heart drop into her stomach, her entire body going cold. Her eyes took in every last detail of Flash's body, how his arms laid out on either side of his head, said head turned to a side. There was no tension in his body, no signs of breathing as his back neither expanded or contracted.

 _No…_

It was slow at first. An unbridled fury began to burn inside of the Amazon. First, Batman, now Flash; what more could be taken from her?

Though it had seemed time had stopped for her, it hadn't for the rest of the gunmen. It was to the sound of the first shots being fired that she was sucked out of her head and put right back in the White House's dining room. While she had the reaction time to stop these bullets as they flew at her at point blank range, even she knew that she couldn't stop all of the shots from that range.

Which is why she was fortunate to have a comrade that could at her side. Even as Diana began to raise her arms to ward off the gunfire, another green beam flew by her shoulder before it expanded out to form a green bubble around her. All of this happened in the span of an instant, just before the bullets hit the shield. The sound of machine gunfire rang out, sparks exploding off of the construct. Several seconds went by before each and every man ran out of bullets in their magazine, but once they did, John allowed his shield to disappear.

Immediately, Diana leaped forward, a hand drawn back into a fist. She didn't hold back as she slammed her fist into the first man she came too, immediately, sending him flying head first into one of the dining room windows. The glass shattered as he flew through it, the man disappearing from sight beyond its frame.

Placing all of her weight on her lead foot, the Amazon leaped into the air, spinning her body so that she could lash out with her back leg at the next gunman, her heel colliding with his face and causing his head to snap to a side. She didn't use as much force this time, though her foe did stumble a step to his side, allowing the dark-haired woman to land back on the floor, knees buckling slightly to brace herself. With one arm drawn over her chest, she then swung it across and away, delivering a backhand blow to the armed man and launching him away from her.

She didn't bother watching where he landed, or who he hit; her attention was focused solely on the man responsible for Flash's prone status. This...this was the man that had taken so much from her. He...he would pay for this transgression equal its weight in blood.

The dark-haired man had raised his gun, aiming it right at the Amazon. The moment he pulled the trigger, Diana quickly learned that this was no ordinary gun. A shockingly large shell was fired from the barrel, traveling at speeds that surprised even her. Raising both of her arms up, bracing one arm behind the other, she waited the heartbeat it took for the projectile to it.

She felt the full force of the blow and Diana would've been left breathless had she taken it head-on. Her feet skidded backwards across the floor, tearing up the carpet as her heels dug into it. Her arms literally rammed into her chest, a noticeable jolt of pain shooting down her arm. Wincing, the moment the Amazonian Princess was sure she had her footing back, she lowered her arms down and turned her front one to a side to see what damage had been done. To her astonishment, there was a sizeable dent in her bracer.

That...that was impossible! This bracelet had been forged in Godly fires, tempered by Hephaestus himself. Nothing should have been able to damage them, not like this. While the metal wasn't broken, it had never shown wear such as this.

Because of this, Diana was distracted to her enemy as he raised his gauntlet-covered hand and a blast of dark blue light fired from it. The dark-haired woman caught sight of it at the last moment and moved to get her unblemished bracer up to deflect the beam.

Instead of it bouncing off her bracer though, Diana immediately felt like Atlas had unburdened his load onto her. Immediately, she dropped to one knee, though she did everything she could to keep her arm up. Her head drifted downward, even as she gritted her teeth, her eyes closed tightly as she tried to resist this strange force.

"Back off!" John suddenly shouted. The dark blue beam ceased, much to the Amazon's relief. Tilting her head to a side, she saw the Green Lantern with a cannon construct in front of him, aimed right at the dark-haired man. All around him were the unconscious bodies of the rest of the men, indicating he had dispensed with them easily. A moment later and a green cannonball was fired.

Their enemy widened his eyes briefly before he dove to a side, dodging the cannonball as it blasted a hole through the far wall of the room. Immediately, John raised his ring hand up, allowing the cannon construct to disappear and in its place form a large sledgehammer. Holding his arm out to his side, he let out a war cry as he swung the hammer from right to left at the man.

Their foe was just pushing himself up onto his feet when he saw the hammer swinging towards him. He ducked low to the floor, allowing the construct to fly harmlessly over his head. In an instant, he aimed his weaponized hand and fired the dark blue blast again.

Because his arms was across his chest, John was wide open as the beam hit him and like Diana before him, he dropped to his knees. Instantly, his green construct faded from existence as the dark-skinned man fell forward, his arms shooting out in front of him to use his hands to brace himself against the floor.

"Too easy," the man scoffed as he stood up on his feet. Once more, he raised his strange gun and aimed it right at John.

Horror filled Diana then. She knew the force of which that weapon could hit with and if John was hit, it would kill him. Though she still felt the effects of that beam, it was lessening with every passing second. She raised a hand up to her head, her fingers wrapping around her tiara, the muscles in her arm abnormally flexed, showing just how much strain they were under as she did this.

The gun was fired, it's absurdly large bullet flying out of the barrel and towards John.

Twisting her face from the strain, Diana let out a yell as she ripped her tiara off of her head and sent it flying, the headpiece spinning in a circle over and over as it flew through the air.

Her aim proved to be true, much to her relief. Just as the tiara passed in front of John, it collided with the large shell, an explosion of sparks flying everywhere and washing over the Green Lantern as both projectiles had their trajectories forcibly changed. From where she knelt, Diana saw her tiara be forced to embed itself in the floor next to her comrade while the shell ricocheted to the nearby wall. The shell burst through it, leaving a large hole in its wake.

The man frowned as he looked back to Diana. "Unexpected, but ultimately futile." He turned his gun back to her. "Let's see you try that again."

That was when another wall blew apart, sending pieces of sheetrock and wood flying in all directions. Shayera and J'onn emerged from the hole that had been made, the two heroes coming to a stop a moment later.

J'onn's attention immediately went to the mastermind as Shayera looked for any other threats. "Vandal Savage," the Martian said lowly.

So that was his name. Even as Diana dropped her outstretched arm, her hand balled into a fist. The effects of his blast were just about gone and she slowly stood up. Glaring down Savage, she now knew what to put on his grave marker.

"You are outnumbered," J'onn continued, his own posture tense and prepared for the offensive, which stood in stark contrast to his normally stiff stance. "Surrender yourself now and no more harm would come to you."

 _Speak for yourself…_

Savage glanced about the room, looking nonplussed about his fallen henchmen. That only served to grow Diana's ire further. "I do believe you are correct, but I'm not going to give myself up that easily." He then dropped his gun, where it landed with a heavy thud on the floor. He then reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a rather recognizable device.

A detonator.

"I know your type quite well, Martian," Savage spoke. "You were going after my hostages before coming to confront me—a poor decision on your part as the Flash would attest to." The very hairs on the back of Diana's neck stood up as rage burned from her eyes. "That allowed me to take certain precautions should this exact stalemate come to fruition. You're quite well aware of the Canidite in my possession. Right now, I have it placed in strategically locations throughout the White House. With a push of this button, I blow this whole place sky high."

"You would risk killing yourself over this?!" Diana demanded as she took a step towards the madman.

Infuriatingly, Savage looked at her with a haughty expression on his face. "You're assuming I can die, Amazon."

"J'onn, get in this guy's mind and stop him," Hawkgirl hissed at the Martian.

Though J'onn normally had reservations about such tactics, he did not hesitate as his eyes glowed orange. Diana fully expected this Vandal Savage to become the Martian's puppet in a second, yet with each one that passed, the man didn't freeze up nor drop his detonator. Instead, he cast a bemused look at the telepath.

It didn't take J'onn much time to realize what was going on. "Telepathy Inhibitors," he groused as his eyes dimmed.

"That one's free," Savage told him, before holding the detonator out higher. "The next time one of you tries to stop me, I press the button."

"Go ahead," John groaned as he slowly began to rise onto his feet. "We've already gotten all of the hostages out, so there's no way you'll kill them. My ring can take any explosion you throw at us, even the Canidite. Face it, Savage, you're through."

"Is that so? Which one of you managed to find the former President?"

Diana immediately glanced to the others, seeing them stiffening at those words. The Amazon knew that she and John had not come across the President during their search. It seemed Shayera and J'onn had no better luck either.

"I believe that's checkmate," Savage gloated. "Only I know the President's location. Strike me down and you risk killing him. Your only option now is to leave the White House— _my_ White House."

For a moment, it seemed they had been stopped cold. They had been played this entire time. While they had been reacting to Savage, he had been executing his next move; in fact, it had been more. While they had fought their way into the White House, he had been placing his explosives and ensuring no one found the President. Before that, he had obtained weapons that had felled two of her friends.

It couldn't end this way.

It wouldn't end this way.

Diana subtly moved her hand to her hip, reaching for her lasso. Except, it wasn't there. Eyes flickering to its usual spot, she found it wasn't there. But when? How? Why wasn't it there?

And then she remembered she had dropped it in a previous room, the one she had saved John in. Why hadn't she recovered it? It was second nature to her by now. Her hand tightened into a fist. She was becoming complacent, that was the only explanation, and it would be their undoing.

A cursory look to the others told her the others felt much like she was. Each was brimming with frustration as they were effectively powerless. Even J'onn was openly scowling. Straightening his posture, his cape enveloping his body, the Martian reluctantly said, "Very well."

Vandal Savage didn't change his expression as he continued to stare the Martian down. The taste of defeat was sour on Diana's tongue and she wanted nothing more than to retch.

Then out of nowhere, two red beams burned through the air until they struck the detonator in Savage's hand. The man yelped as the device immediately glowed red from the heat, letting the device go as he snatched his blackened hand back to his body. The smell of burnt flesh reached Diana's nose a moment later. In an instant the beams stopped, but that didn't stop the detonator from dropping to the floor, where it made a wet splat. Somehow it retained its form, yet it was clear that it was melting where it laid.

And then Superman came flying through the hole Shayera and J'onn had made, a red-and-blue blur that went right for Savage. Diana wasn't sure how hard Superman hit the man, but he had been none too gentle as he sent Savage flying hard into the side-turned table, causing the thick wood to shatter from the impact.

Where Savage had stood, Superman hovered in midair. There was a look on his face that Diana hadn't seen before. Clearly the Kryptonian was angry, but it was a cold anger that burned from within. It actually sent a shiver down her spine.

However, the stalemate was over and the Amazon could not fault her friend for his action. Had he not down what he had, Savage would have won the day whether the Justice League had withdrawn and allowed the madman his prize, or blown up the building with innocent people still being held within.

Diana's eyes then turned to Flash. During her reverie, Shayera had knelt beside beside the speedster, a hand trembling as it hovered by his face. John was moving up behind her, his face becoming stricken as he stood next to the two. "Is he…?" he trailed off.

Slowly, Shayera nodded her head. "He's gone."

There was a loud yell, one that got all of their attention. Superman had finally settled on the floor, but he was screaming at the top of his lungs, his arms held out to either side of him, hands balled into fists. The yell was long and seemed to go without end, but finally he stopped.

Yet, it continued to echo in Diana's ears and she felt it would never leave.

* * *

It was getting tense. Ever since it had started, the situation had been slowly getting out of hand, but damn it, there would be a satisfactory resolution.

"Say it," Helena ordered.

Batgirl glared at her—yes, glared. Though she still had her mask on, there was no hiding the look of displeasure that was on her face.

Helena also wore her mask, but she was no longer in her suit. Why be dressed for work when you were staying in for the night? While she had opted for some casual clothes, the other girl stayed in full Bat-regalia. The dark-haired woman was pretty sure it had to be uncomfortable for the girl, but she didn't so much as utter a complaint and hadn't since she moved in. Still, if Batgirl wasn't going to show her real face, neither would Helena. While her mask didn't provide as much coverage as the other girl's, it would do for now. Besides, she got the feeling her reluctant pupil wouldn't know her from the man on the moon.

The one benefit of being locked up in a cave for most of the day.

"Staaaaaa," Batgirl spoke. "Staaaaa."

"Wrong. There's no A in it," she reprimanded.

"Staaaaaaaa."

"Try again."

She knew the girl was frustrated. Hell, Helena was too. She had known there was some learning deficits, but she hadn't thought they were this bad. No wonder Batman had been taking his time with her.

Still, she knew some sort of coddling was in play. Batgirl had this air about her of "good enough." There was no "good enough" in Helena's book. You either knew it and could do it, or you didn't, that was all there was to it. Now, she would never use that method of teaching on her students at school, yet she had pulled out some of her "tough love" moves on the ones that didn't want to try.

It was all tough love here. Maybe it was because Batgirl had the body of a young teenager, or maybe it was her attitude, but Helena was going to be damned if she didn't make any progress with this hot head.

"Staaaaaaaa."

"Either you say this word, or I'm eating your dessert for the night," the dark-haired woman threatened.

Batgirl's eyes narrowed. "Staaaaaa."

"Now you're just not even trying. Say good-bye to your ice cream."

Helena stood up from her place on the couch and began walking to her kitchen. She couldn't help but noticed the wide eyes of Batgirl's mask as she watched her walk away.

"Stop!"

She did as told, but she turned her head to smirk at the girl. "See? Told ya you could do it."

The glare was back, but she could tell it didn't have the same malice. All in a day's work.

Instead of going into the kitchen, Helena did a U-turn and snatched the TV remote right off of the coffee table. Hitting the power button, she turned it on, the picture taking a moment to appear. She went to her spot on the couch and sat down, lounging as she did so. "Alright, your pick," she told Batgirl, just before she began flipping through the channels. "Just say stop when we find something you want to watch."

"Stop."

 _Well that was quick,_ she mused. However, she soon realized just why. They were on a news station, which was proclaiming BREAKING NEWS. Well, that wasn't anything new; however, the aerial shot of the White House in D.C. was definitely attention grabbing.

"— _moments ago, the hostage situation at the White House was resolved, thanks in part to the Justice League. I'm told the mastermind behind this plot has been apprehended, as well as the men he used to attack the President."_

Suddenly, Helena felt she needed to watch the news more often.

* * *

It was still unreal. For someone with Superman's powers, he still failed to be there when his friends needed him most. It was infuriating, maddening...hell, it was inexcusable.

They were the Justice League, the most powerful heroes on Earth. They saved people from threats man-made and natural. They stopped crime, alien invasions, and ran point on natural disasters. And yet, in spite of all of this, they were being picked off one by one, not by a galactic tyrant, or getting caught up in an avalanche, but to a single man with a plan.

Was that all it really took?

He hadn't said it out loud; he wasn't sure he could bare the looks he'd receive if he did say anything. When he had hit Vandal Savage, he hadn't held back. In fact, the man had pieces of the White House's dining table piercing through his body. Part of Savage's face was caved in from the punch he had landed when the Kryptonian charged at him. Somehow, someway, Savage hadn't died. In fact, he was being loaded into one of D.C.'s police cruisers, looking none the worse for wear aside from some holes and bloodstains on his clothes. That was something to look into, but right now wasn't the time.

On the floor of the dining room was a white sheet that covered Flash's body. The very sight made Superman numb. First it had given him indescribable sorrow and his yell had startled his friends. Now he was silent, his throat still feeling the after-effects of his scream.

The others weren't in any better shape. Hawkgirl's eyes were red, visible even with her helmet on. John stood next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders as grief stricken his face. Neither had moved much since they had approached their fallen comrade's body.

J'onn was also looking at Flash, his face stoic like usual. Yet, Superman could see the sadness in the Martian's eyes as he gazed down at the white sheet. There was no telling what else was going through his mind.

As for Diana, she was facing away, looking out through the ruined window. From there—if anyone cared to—you could see Secret Service, Military, and local police scouring the property. Savage's men were either taken away by law enforcement, emergency transport, or...well, what did it matter where they were taking them? If it weren't for these men, Flash would still be alive. Batman would still be alive.

How much more would be taken from them?

"What shall we do with Flash?" J'onn spoke, shaking the Kryptonian out of his mind. "I'm sure he had some last wishes should he—"

"Not. Now," Hawkgirl interrupted him, one of her hands clenching tightly into a fist. "I want to know what's going to happen to Savage. I want to know that son of a bitch is going to receive justice."

"He's going to," Superman was quick to reassure her. "For what he's done here, there's no court in the world that won't convict him."

"I'm not talking about here," the Thanagarian spat back. "I don't give a fuck about what he did to the President. That guy has a hundred different people ready to take his job at any given moment. I want to know what they intend to do for Flash. He deserves something for everything he's given; he deserves to be avenged."

"We're all in a bad place right now," John said quietly. "Now isn't the time for anything rash. We need to—"

"No!" Hawkgirl pulled away from John, anger contorting her face. "I don't care! I don't, I don't! We can't let the world know that they can take one of us out without repercussion! Otherwise we're going to invite someone else who thinks they're smart enough to take us on! Someone like Luthor could kill Superman! Or any one of our own enemies! We can't let anyone think they can get away with this!"

"Hawkgirl makes a valid point," J'onn agreed. "To discourage more attempts, we need to act now."

It was then that Diana entered the conversation. "This has to stop." Turning around, she faced the group, determination in her eyes and on her face. "We cannot let this happen again. A strong message has to be sent that we will not be discouraged. No more deaths. No more crime. No more leniency."

"Damn straight!" Hawkgirl agreed.

Those words, they clicked in Superman. This couldn't go on any longer. Lifting off from the ground, he flew towards the broken window and went through it. He continued to rise into the air until he found exactly what he was looking for.

Beyond the barricade of law enforcement and military vehicles were news vans. Descending down, Superman came to land in front of one, which just so happened to have its cameraman hefting up his camera onto his shoulder.

"Superman!" a nearby reporter exclaimed before he got over his surprise and shoved his microphone in front of the superhero's mouth. "Can you tell us what happened in the White House? Is the President safe? Is there any truth to the rumors that one of your own was struck down?"

Behind the Kryptonian, the rest of the League landed, each one with a stoic or serious expression on their face. Superman cleared his voice before he began to speak. "As you may have heard, there was an attack on the President tonight. As of now, he is safe, of that I can assure you."

"And the rest of America breathes a sigh of relief at that news," the reporter responded. "I know I am. What can you tell us about the perpetrator's plans?"

The dark-haired man swallowed deeply. "If I may, there is something else I would like to discuss," he told the reporter. "Tonight, one of our own was killed. I know I speak on behalf of all the members of the Justice League that we cannot express our full remorse for this loss."

He paused. "Tonight, the Flash was killed in the line of duty, protecting the President against Vandal Savage's...evil. While we know this won't be of comfort to Central City, just know that he fought valiantly until the very end.

"But that isn't all." Superman then squared his shoulders. "Last month, during an investigation into Savage's plans, Batman of Gotham City was also taken from us in the explosion in Erie, Ohio. We had wanted to keep this news quiet due to the difficulties there had been in Gotham recently.

"More importantly, however, is that I, us, the Justice League has a message for the entire world: no more. Two of our own have made the ultimate sacrifice and we will not let those sacrifices be in vain. From here on out, we pledge to put an end to crime as the world knows it. If there is anyone that thinks they can defeat the League, they are sorely mistaken. No more will we be reactive; no more will evil men sit safely and securely in their palaces, or penthouses, while innocent people die because of them."

By then, a crowd of cameramen and reporters had surrounded the League. The crowd was getting bigger with every second that passed and every word Superman said. This was good since he wanted the entire world on notice.

"Never again," he finished.

* * *

" _Never again."_

Helena stared at the television screen. She wasn't quite sure how she felt. Numb was a good word. Shock, most definitely. Yeah, she was going to go with shock.

Tearing her eyes from the screen, she looked over to Batgirl. It was quite clear she hadn't understood the gist of what Superman had just announced on what was most likely on every news channel in the country; hell, the world. However, the girl had perked up at the mention of Batman and if there were any words she had understood, she had caught the important ones.

 _Jesus Christ…_

It was then her phone rang, startling the dark-haired woman. Looking to it, she saw her cell phone dancing across the coffee table due to the vibrations it made. She could clearly make out the name of Dinah on the caller ID.

Oh, this was just getting better.

Glancing back at Batgirl to see what was going on with the girl and seeing she hadn't so much as flinched from the ringing, Helena reached over and picked up the phone, answering it. "This is H," she said.

" _Is it true?"_ Dinah's voice demanded at her, causing the dark-haired woman to wince. She really needed to tone down the volume.

"Are you referring to what Superman just announced to the world?" she asked rhetorically.

" _Damn straight I am, H,"_ the blonde woman retorted angrily. " _You should have told us all about this! I mean, you're not the only vigilante in this damn city."_

Dinah was angry, that much Helena would give her. But if she thought she was that close to the Bat, then she was sorely mistaken. "I'm just finding out about this myself," she said as calmly as she could manage. Adding her anger to the conversation wouldn't help anything. Again, she looked over to Batgirl, seeing she still hadn't budged. "All I was told was that he was on some mission with the League and that came from Batgirl herself. _She_ didn't even know."

There was a moment of silence, then, " _Oh God, we need to find that girl. There's no telling what she'll do when she hears about this."_

"Kinda late about that, D. She's been staying with me the last couple of weeks. She's actually sitting right next to me in some sort of daze."

" _Do you need me over there?"_

This time, Helena openly stared at the masked girl. She was actually starting to get concerned with the lack of reaction from her. "Bring your mask, okay? And Dinah? Get here fast."

" _On my way."_

She hung up the phone then, lowering it until it rested on her lap. "Batgirl?" she ventured softly, hoping to get some sort of response out of the girl. "Are you okay?"

Finally, she got something. Batgirl pointed a finger at the television and asked, "What?"

Helena glanced to the television screen and then back. "Are you asking what they're saying?" she questioned.

Batgirl nodded.

 _Oh, this is going to suck._ Perhaps it would be best if she waited for Dinah to show up. She was definitely better at comforting other people. Then again, Helena had to do that every day at school. Why would this be any different?

 _Because you don't tell little kids their parents are dead._

Okay, so perhaps there was that. Still, she had to try, right? Swallowing deeply, Helena prepared herself for what was going to be a rough talk. "The Justice League, Superman," she started pointing to the screen with both hands. "They said something. Nod if you understand so far."

She got a nod. Okay, so far so good. "What they said is not good."

There was a look of innocence on Batgirl's face, or at least that's what the mask was showing. Damn, how was something that was supposed to be menacing looking like that? It was almost unfair. "No good?" she actually managed to say.

 _Hey, her first sentence. Why did it have to be like this?_ "Yes, no good. What they said was...was...that Batman is gone."

The girl tilted her head to a side, clearly indicating she didn't understand.

"Dead? He's dead?" Helena tried again.

That got her attention. "No Batman?"

Well, it was simple, but it would do. "No Batman." Helena found herself pointing to the television again, this time with one hand and not both. "He was working with the League and died. So no more Batman."

There, she knew she had reached the girl. The first sign of that was the unconscious trembling. Immediately, Helena closed the distance between them on the couch, wrapping her arms around the young girl in an embrace. She was slow at first to respond, but soon the dark-haired woman felt two arms wrapped tightly around her, Batgirl's shaking becoming more and more noticeable.

"Shhhhh," she cooed, doing her best to be soothing. "It's going to be okay. We're going to figure this out, the two of us."

It was the right thing to say, she was sure of it. But were things really going to be okay? What did she know about raising a teenage girl? Slowly, Helena found her eyes falling onto the television screen.

There was one thing she was sure about though. Nothing was okay and they never would be. No matter what pledges the Justice League made, things were just waiting to get worse. Gotham's criminals would be coming out in full force now that they knew the Bat was gone. They would have to be ready.

It would be a long time before they were okay again.

* * *

To Guest: Hopefully this chapter gives you an idea of which path they'll take.


	11. The Regime

" _No more will we be reactive; no more will evil men sit safely and securely in their palaces, or penthouses, while innocent people die because of them. Never again"_

" _That was the famous interview by Superman following his foiling of Vandal Savage's plan to take over the United States. From that day forward, crime has taken a nosedive into levels not seen since the caveman days. Super-criminals have either mended their ways, or have been incarcerated for the rest of their days. Truly, we owe the High Councilor our eternal gratitude."_

The aging television was turned off immediately. The remote was tossed onto a couch that had seen better days a decade ago, its upholstery ripped apart and revealing the padding within its cushions.

A woman in dark armor glared at the blank screen. She had known these proclamations were coming; they always did at this time of the year and they had yet to stop sickening her.

Call it whatever you wish: Superman saved the world; the Justice League established world peace; aggressive measures taken to eliminate crime; they all were just embellishments meant to disguise what really happened.

A mane of red hair cascaded down her back as she turned to walk away from the television of lies. A red gloved hand raised up to adjust the mask that covered her upper face, leaving the pale skin around her mouth out in the open. Once she was sure the mask was securely on, she opened the door to the small room, ignoring the familiar fading wallpaper as she entered the next room.

The next room was much larger, full of activity as men with large taser guns made final adjustments to their gear and armor. Today was the day they struck a blow against the One Earth Government, firmly reminding the Regime they were still out there and unwilling to let their successful media blitz against them hinder their efforts.

"Batwoman," a voice called out. Turning her head, the wanted vigilante saw a familiar face approaching her. A tall, black man in blue and black came to stop next to her, his thunderbolt emblem announcing his identity.

"Black Lightning," she greeted him, giving a stiff nod. "Are we ready?"

"Just about. I gotta hand it to Bluebird, she really knew how to design these blasters."

Batwoman snorted. "We haven't changed her design at all since she first made the prototype. Why fix something that isn't broken?"

The man gave her a grim smile. "I just wish I could've talked with her about it. Just imagine what she could have accomplished with her mind."

The redhead didn't bother. She had forsaken such thoughts a long time ago. There was no point in doing so. A lot of people she had considered friends and comrades were dead, all at the hand of the High Councilor and his cronies.

"Everyone!" she shouted, causing the busy activity around her to slow to a stop. Once she was sure she had their attention, she continued, "I can't stress how important today's mission is—not to mention how simple the objective. We get in, we get out, and we leave a burning calling card to the Regime."

"Hoo-ha!" the men chanted in agreement.

For once a small smile appeared on her face. "Let's lock and load, gentlemen."

* * *

" _No more will we be reactive; no more will evil men sit safely and securely in their palaces, or penthouses, while innocent people die because of them. Never again"_

"You know, I never get tired of that speech."

John Stewart looked away from the computer monitor he was staring at. The effects of aging were showing on his face, primarily the growing wrinkles on his forehead. He had long ago given up keeping his military haircut due to the hassle of keeping it all one color and opted for shaving it bald. The neatly-trimmed beard and mustache were the only signs of growing hair on his head, but it was a look he rather liked.

It made him wonder why he hadn't tried it a long time ago.

Standing several feet away was another man of the streets, much like him. However, unlike John, this man had seen some pretty bad shit in his life. It had resulted in most of his body becoming mechanical, rendering him a walking, talking cyborg.

In fact, that was his name: Cyborg. While the Green Lantern wasn't too familiar with the details, all he knew was this guy had run away from some top secret lab, or something. He had ended up joining forces with a bunch of young, budding heroes to form their own superhero team—the Teen Titans. Now though, he was a member of the Justice League, an honor bestowed on him for his valor and efforts during the last encounter of criminal resistance.

That had been about five years ago. A surprise attack had nearly wiped them out, but they had endured. Now, with their swelling ranks, the League was back to full strength.

"You like that, huh?" John inquired, a smirk on his face. "I can remember that speech like it was yesterday."

"It was yesterday for ya, old man," Cyborg replied, returning the smirk.

"I prefer seasoned vet," he quipped right back. "I know this is hard for you, but you can at least show a little respect."

"What can I say, I have a problem with authority."

There was a short silence before both men snorted with amusement. If there was one person that did as told to the letter, it was Cyborg. It helped that he was a living, breathing computer that ran off of logistical inputs. That still didn't stop the kid's human side from surfacing in these moments of levity.

"Well then, can you tell me if there's anyone else having issues with authority out there?" he then asked.

Cyborg was quiet for a moment, his full attention on the monitors before him. His fingers were tapping not on a keyboard, but an interactive hologram that was linked to his internal systems and the Watchtower's. "I think I can," he said after awhile. "Though it's nothing that we weren't expecting. You gonna head out and deal with it?"

"Of course. After the High Councillor basically abolished crime single-handedly, I need to take my opportunities for exercise whenever I can," John retorted.

"Just don't pull out your back," the mechanical man warned him. "Your wife would give me hell if you did."

"Then you should be happy to know, Cyborg, that I'm going with him."

Both men turned to face an approaching Thanagarian. Shayera had long since given up the use of her mask and Thanagarian colors, opting for a more Earthly attire. What was best described as white sweatpants and top hugged the redhead's body, her long red hair falling down her back. Her green eyes flickered with amusement as she came to stop before the two, placing her weight on one leg as a hand rested on her hip. "You ready to go?"

She was a sight, breathtaking every time he laid eyes on her. Why she ever agreed to tie herself down to him, John didn't know, but he didn't care. They only had eyes for each other and that was all that mattered.

"Depends on if our team is ready," John responded.

"You know they are. They've been chomping at the bit for weeks now."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Glancing to Cyborg, he then said, "Keep us updated."

"You got it. Go kick some Insurgent ass."

As he walked away, Shayera in tow, the Green Lantern had to fight back a snort. Insurgents, what melodramatic fools. They were just malcontents unhappy that they had been shoved to the side while peace had been won. Had they been the ones to do it, John would've gladly given them the credit and responsibility for enforcing it. Though, that wasn't the most egregious act they had done.

It had started a couple years ago. A small group of guerilla fighters had been staging hit-and-run attacks on facilities run by the One Earth Government. Even more audacious was their use of the Bat Symbol. They would leave a burning bat in the wake of their attacks, proclaiming themselves to be the Bat Underground.

Needless to say, that didn't sit well at all with the Regime.

Today, however, stood a chance at ending all of this nonsense. Far be it for him not to personally stamp it out.

* * *

The day was beautiful. The sky was blue, not a cloud to be found. By golly, it was going to be a great day!

"Billy, calm down," Raven deadpanned, her dark eyes staring blankly at him.

Billy Batson, known to the whole wide world as Shazam!, would not let the boring, dark girl act like a wet towel and get him down. So what if he was half her age, life wasn't dark clouds and pain and whatever the goth crowd wrote poetry about. Life was just too good not to appreciate it.

"You know, Raven, even you have to admit today is going to be good," Shazam shot back. "I mean, just look at it! How can you not smile?"

The hooded girl continued to stare blandly at him, not even a twitch from her mouth. Yeesh, tough crowd. "C'mon! If it wasn't for us, we wouldn't be enjoying it!" he pressed.

"That is true," she admitted, but again, she was devoid of emotion. She could've given robots a run for their money on sounding lifeless. "But we must remain vigilant. Not everyone thinks the way you do. If we let our hubris get the best of us, then we risk letting everything fall into ruin."

"...you're quoting Tolkien, aren't you?"

For once, Raven made an expression: she rolled her eyes. She then promptly turned away from him. "Just shut up."

Ha! He was getting closer! Any one of these days, he would crack that girl's hard exterior and bring out the sweet girl he knew she kept suppressed.

Looking away, Shazam admired the Neo-Metropolis skyline. With his fists pressed into his hips, he knew he cut an impressive pose as he stood in front of the Hall of Justice. This was the headquarters of the Justice League going on a decade now. He could still remember coming to this very building, fully intent on helping the Justice League. He had even proved his worth a couple years later. It was one of his prouder moments, helping protect the peace Superman and the others helped establish.

So yeah, he was going to keep on admiring the fruits of his labor. After all, it was a beautiful day.

"Well, well, you two are getting along as usual."

For once, Shazam didn't freeze up nor flinch. That was another proud moment for him. Instead, he turned around to find another addition to the Justice League.

It was a girl, or rather woman as the case may be. From beneath her open green cloak was the lush body of a hot woman who knew it. Tight green pants and a midriff-bearing top showed off her figure. As a cherry on top, there was a golden tiara on her head similar to Wonder Woman's, though clearly a different design. It was probably the blood red ruby at its center that was the dead giveaway.

"Enchantress," Raven greeted the woman, who was approaching them from the Hall of Justice's entrance. The yellow cloth she wore as a belt rubbed up and down her hips with every step she took until the green—yes, green—haired woman stopped before them. "What brings you here?"

"Just doing what Shazam here suggested: I'm admiring the day," the supple woman responded.

A year ago, that would've sent the seventeen year old into a blush of embarrassment. He was a teenager after all and being praised by a beautiful woman was the best way to get his heart pounding. It had taken a long time for him to give off that cool, edgy look of nonchalance when he was around her.

"See, Enchantress knows what it's all about!" Shazam exclaimed. "Now turn that frown upside down!"

"Yes, Raven, smile with us," Enchantress teased.

"I'll do that whenever I please and right now, you two are bugging me." Raven turned away and began to float off the ground, heading towards the city. "Enjoy your smiling."

"You know, I never realized just how much fun it is to annoy that girl," Enchantress remarked as the blue-hood girl left. "Now I know why you do it so much."

That caused Shazam to frown. "I just want her to quit being so aloof, ya know? We're all friends here—teammates. It wouldn't kill her to act like it."

"She's friendlier with Cyborg," the green-haired woman pointed out.

"Yeah, but they've known each other from their Teen Titan days. That doesn't count."

Enchantress ran a hand from his shoulder and down his arm, causing a nice shiver to run up the hero's spin. "If you want a friend so much, I can be your friend," she said huskily.

Immediately, Shazam became flushed—damn it. _So not cool, Billy!_ "I would like that," he mumbled.

The woman smiled at him before she began to walk back to the Hall, her behind swinging from side to side sensually. "So would I," she replied over her shoulder. "I'll see you later."

Shazam just watched her leave. Yeah, that was a beautiful a—day. He meant this was a beautiful day.

Yeah.

* * *

They were in before the guards could even blink.

The doors were blasted open and the Insurgency was in. Taser guns fired immediately, striking several of the guards before they could even move to defend themselves. They cried out as the voltage of countless joules burned into their armored bodies. More men poured into the warehouse, immediately heading for their objectives. Many took up guard of the entrance, training their weapons on it as others sought out other exits.

That left Batwoman and Black Lightning and a few men to go secure their main objective. Because of their intel, they didn't bother searching the shelves or the machines scattered throughout the room. Instead, they made a beeline for the back, finding the main office. Black Lightning didn't even wait for them to reach the door as he powered up his electrical powers. Raising a hand, a bolt of lightning fired from his hand and struck the door, blowing it into hundreds of pieces.

Though Batwoman thought of this place as a warehouse, it used to be a factory once upon a time. Most people had forgotten that part and pretty much paid it no mind. Of course, someone with a sharp intellect would have noticed the heightened security over a supposedly unused building.

Further digging showed there was something being hidden here, something the Insurgency could use. If they wanted to continue their resistance, they had no choice but to accept it.

Entering the office, Batwoman gave it a cursory look. The room was the definition of abandoned. The film of dust and grime covered what was left of a rotting table and chairs. Even worse was that there was nothing here to suggest what they were searching for was even here.

"Damn it," Black Lightning swore. "We've been set up."

"Get everyone out of here," Batwoman ordered as she turned to face her men. " _Now."_

Immediately, the others left, leaving the two vigilantes to themselves. "They're the ones that leaked that intel," the man murmured. "They staged this entire thing."

As if to confirm that statement, the sound of taser guns were heard, coupled with screams. The two darted for the door, peering through it just in time to see several of their men at the front hit by a large, blinding white blast. Even from where she stood, Batwoman could see the men being enveloped in ice, freezing them where they stood.

"Shit, Killer Frost," she cursed, spotting the blue-haired woman in the doorway. She was dressed quite provocatively in what was best described as a flimsy dress. It was impractical for battle, but then, she never got close to combat that would call for armor.

"Hey there, boys," she greeted the Insurgents wickedly. "Who's ready to die?" The cruelty she spoke with was infuriating, yet it wasn't the worst part. Though the ice-wielder was deadly on her own, she rarely moved on her own.

That was when a wall to her right exploded, not from an explosion, but through brute force. Storming through the hole was a part man, part shark creature, better known as King Shark. The vigilante wasn't sure about all of the specifics, but she was positive this was a man who had altered his body to fit that of a shark.

King Shark let out a roar as he closed on two Insurgents. With one large fist, he crossed it over his charging body and swung it across, delivering a backhand blow that sent its victim flying away. With his other hand, he grabbed the other Insurgent and held him in place, allowing him to bite down on the poor man's shoulder. The Insurgent screamed as he was bent over backwards, King Shark feasting on him.

That was when an Insurgent came running up on King Shark, skidding to a stop as he fired his taser gun. The electrical blast nailed the son of a bitch in the back, causing his body to spasm as he jerked away from his victim, letting out a scream of pain. He would've continued to had it not been for the third member of this meta-human team.

What was best described as fire blazed through the air and hit the Insurgent, causing him to scream as he was practically disintegrated. That "fire" was actually atomic energy, concentrated into a wicked form. Searching for the source, Batwoman found the red and yellow form of Major Force, a hand held out as he smirked at his handiwork.

King Shark stopped his screaming as he looked over to the nuclear man, grunting at him before taking off for more victims. "I've got Major Force," Black Lightning said as he passed by the redhead. "Think you can take on the other two?"

"Easily." Watching as Black Lightning covered himself in electricity before launching himself towards Major Force, Batwoman then took off running after King Shark, pulling out a couple of batarangs. Reaching a wooden crate, she used it as a springboard as she leapt high into the air, throwing the bat-shaped projectiles. Each one hit its target, stabbing into King Shark's back as he roared. Whipping around, the shark man caught sight of her landing a short distance away.

"Batwoman," he growled as he turned to fully face her. "I've been waiting a long time to take a bite out of you."

"You're going to have to wait much longer," she shot back.

King Shark roared as he charged at her, lunging at her with his hands stretched out for her. If that wasn't projecting one's move, then she didn't know what was. The redhead vigilante held her ground, waiting for the right second to move.

 _Now._ Leaping backwards, Batwoman leaned back as far as she could, arms stretched out over her head as she went into a backflip. Her timing was spot on as she swung her legs up, her feet slamming right beneath King Shark's chin, forcing his gaping mouth shut. The shark man's charge came to an abrupt stop as his head snapped backwards.

Completing her flip as she landed on her feet in a crouched pose, Batwoman immediately pulled out a round canister from her belt. Drawing her arm back, she then threw it right at King Shark, just in time for his head to tilt back to look at her. The canister hit him right in the face, exploding as a thick, sticky substances erupted from within it and attached itself all over the shark man's face and head. Immediately, he began pulling at the glue, trying to pull it off, making muffled sounds all the while. While suffocation was a risk with that maneuver, Batwoman knew King Shark wouldn't; after all, he was part shark, which gave him a set of gills along the sides of his neck. That would keep him breathing for the time being.

However, the move left her foe completely wide open. Thrusting her left arm out in front of her as her right punched a button on her gauntlet, a small metal bar extending out of the palm of her glove. Immediately her fingers wrapped around it as two more bars emerged from either end of the original, one wrapping around the outside of her hand while the other made its way between her thumb and index finger. Both bars attached to either side of her wrist, just as an opening appeared on the gauntlet on her forearm and a small missile rose up. A second later, it fired, launching itself towards King Shark, where it detonated against his chest. An explosion rang out as fire and smoke filled the spot the shark man had stood.

It didn't take long for the smoke to clear, giving her sight of King Shark a long distance away, lying crumpled in a heap in the remains of a broken wooden crate. That had been so much easier than the last time she had fought the monster.

* * *

Major Force was the result of a government research experiment gone wrong. The goal had been to create a super soldier with the power of an atomic bomb—or so the story went. In reality, the scientists had no idea what they were doing and were testing the effects of atomic energy on an alien compound. The results had...varied.

Then came human testing, of which Major Force was the second of two attempts. The first had resulted in a government agent simply known as Captain Atom; the second resulted in the Major.

Black Lightning had the chance of meeting Captain Atom several years ago and he had been an upstanding guy, perhaps a bit too serious, but definitely was everything you wanted in a soldier.

In contrast, Major Force was psychotic. He reveled in the damage he could create and the number of people he killed. He was the poster child for a psycho given a license to kill by the federal government.

Frankly, it would've done everyone a service had he died during his research trial.

As electricity crackled around Black Lightning's fists, he approached the Major as he fired another nuclear blast at an Insurgent, frying him alive. Coming to a stop, the dark-skin man pressed the sides of his fists together and fired his charged lightning bolt, the blast streaking through the air until it struck Major Force in the back.

A scream rang out from the man before he whipped around, glaring at the electrical man. "Black Lightning," he growled, his arms hanging at his sides as both hands were surrounded by his signature orange energy. "You're gonna wish that shot had killed me."

"Sorry, not everyone has your blatant disregard for life," Black Lightning shot back, charging up his own electricity.

A smirk appeared on the man's face. "Hey, I'm just following orders, unlike you. There's a standing order for your head and you can bet I'm gonna collect."

That was all the warning the Major gave as he swung one of his arms out in front of him and across his body. Three burning energy balls flew towards Black Lightning, forcing him to dive to a side, allowing the balls to fly by harmlessly—at least he hoped they didn't cause any harm.

Unfortunately, Major Force had anticipated his dodge and fired a blast from his other hand, which nailed him in the chest, sending him flying backwards and into the side of an unused machine. A large dent was made from where he hit it, the dark-skinned man dropping to the floor.

Shaking his head as he berated himself for his misstep, he raised his head in time to see the Major charging at him. With a fist drawn back, he threw it at the electrical man, causing him to jerk his head to aside at the last moment. The fist collided with the machine, sinking into it as metal twisted and dented from the force. With electricity dancing across his fist again, Black Lightning threw his own punch, which hit the Major right in the gut. He knew his blow had done some damage as the Major gasped, backing up a step.

Forcing himself onto his feet, Black Lightning pressed his advantage, throwing punch after punch into Major Force's face. Each hit backed the man up, his head jerking from the to side.

And then he shot a hand up and caught Black Lightning's next punch. Tightening his hold on the fist, a feral smirk appeared on his face before he leaned his head back before throwing it forward. His forehead smacked against Black Lightning's, causing stars to to explode before his eyes. The next thing he knew, the Major rammed his knee into his gut, knocking the air from his lungs.

The red-and-yellow-covered man then grabbed the bald man by his forearm, making sure he had a good hold. Twisting his body, he swung Black Lightning off of the ground and threw him through the air. Tumbling wildly, Black Lightning just knew what was coming and he needed to stop it at all costs.

Summoning electricity, he allowed it to cover his entire body before he blew it out in all directions forming a shield of electricity around him. A moment later and a nuclear blast crashed against the shield, which had the added benefit of stopping his spinning.

However, he was upside down, so as he maintained his shield, he took the time to right himself, turning until his world was right-side up. Shortly after that, the blast stopped and he relinquished his shield, dropping to the floor to land on his feet.

"I hope you have some better moves than that," Major Force called out as he walked towards him, cracking the knuckles of one hand with the other. "Otherwise, I'm gonna get bored."

"I'm glad you're having a fun time," Black Lightning responded as he gathered his electricity around his hands again. In turn, he saw Major Force do the same with his nuclear energy. "As for me, I have to end it here and now."

"Heh, give it your best shot."

Simultaneously, both men threw their hands out in front of themselves and fired their respective blasts.

* * *

Tearing her eyes from King Shark, Batwoman saw Black Lightning and Major Force deep in combat. Both were firing lightning and nuclear energy respective, their blasts colliding between the two of them and keeping them at a stalemate.

Which left just one other unaccounted for. Looking towards the entrance, she saw Killer Frost standing right out in the open, one arm extended out to her side with her head turned in its direction. Another blast of ice erupted from her hand as she froze more Insurgents. "Who's next?" she taunted, looking hungrily at the frozen statues the men had become.

Scowling, Batwoman took off running at the cold-blooded woman. Killer Frost, however, must have heard her charge as she smugly turned her head to look at the running vigilante, her cruel smile growing wider. Batwoman knew what her opponent would do before even she knew. As expected, Killer Frost raised her other arm, pointing it right at the redhead. The air around her palm crystallized just before an ice blast was fired.

Instantly, Batwoman dove to a side, the blast of ice flying by her, the very temperature around her dropping because of it. Even as her own breath became visible, she threw out her own hand in front of her. A small pellet flew from her fingers, traveling some distance in front of her until it hit the ground.

Immediately, a cloud of smoke erupted from the pellet. An instant later, as the smoke rose up into the ice blast, it froze into a bizarre ice sculpture, separating both women from the other's sights.

Immediately, Batwoman's grapple was in her hand and she fired it up to the ceiling. The moment her line went taut, she was flying upward, giving her a good look at her foe. Killer Frost was still staring at the frozen smoke cloud in bewilderment. "Well that's new," she spoke.

 _And so is this._ Her free hand going to her belt, the redhead pulled out another batarang and pressed her thumb against its body. Whipping her arm out in front of her, she sent it sailing towards her target.

As the batarang closed in on Killer Frost, the pale woman took noticed of it, her head perking up as she looked up at it. She shot her hand up to shoot it down, but by the time she fired an ice blast, it hit the projectile mere inches away from her.

Instantly, the batarang exploded, the force of the blast sending the woman flying backwards as she cried out. Her back crashed into the door to the warehouse, knocking her out as she dropped to the floor limply.

Coming to a stop as she hung from her grapple, Batwoman turned her attention back to her last remaining comrade. In the time it had taken to take down Killer Frost, Black Lightning and Major Force had actually closed the distance between each other, a veritable shield of energy between the two as they bared their teeth at each other.

And then Black Lightning's electricity spread out wider than Major Force's nuclear energy. The bolts of electricity wrapped around the energy and formed a dome around Major Force. For a moment, the nuclear man seemed stunned before he began increasing the power of his blasts right at the containing electricity.

Then, Major Force just stopped his blast, seeing his current attack wasn't working. It became apparent he was trying something new as he prepared another nuclear attack. However, before he could unleash it, Black Lightning fired a point blank lightning bolt, striking the man right in the chest. In a blink of an eye, it was over as the nuclear man collapsed to the ground, smoke wafting from his body.

It seemed a bolt of lightning could do serious damage to living energy.

Stopping his bolts, the electricity disappeared and Black Lightning straightened out his posture. Turning to look at the redhead, he gave her a tired smirk.

Batwoman returned the smile before she swung herself back and forth, releasing her grapple hook in time so that she could land on a rafter running from one side of the room to the other. She would just swing over to her comrade and the two of them would—

It came out of nowhere. Before Batwoman could utter a sound, a thin green beam flew through the hole in the warehouse's door and struck Black Lightning in the chest. The beam tore a hole through his torso, exiting out his back. For a moment, Black Lightning looked stunned before he fell backwards, landing on his back.

Jerking her head away, Batwoman caught sight of Green Lantern floating into the room, Hawkgirl at his side as she held her mace lazily. "It's been a long time, Jefferson," Green Lantern greeted as he came to land a short distance.

"Not...long enough," Black Lightning spat out as he tilted his head up, blood leaking out of his mouth as well as his chest.

"Soon, you won't have to worry about it," Hawkgirl interjected. "We're taking you in, be it you, or your corpse. Right about now, I'd say it'll be the latter."

Rage filled Batwoman from head to toe. In an instant, she had a batarang out, ready to throw it at the winged woman's head.

Yet, Black Lightning had other ideas. "No!" he shouted, which startled the two Justice League members.

That caused the redhead to hesitate. Her friend was clearly looking at her and his demand was directed right to her.

Unfortunately, Hawkgirl turned her head to see what Black Lightning was looking towards and spotted the vigilante immediately. "Well, well, he's got a friend with him. Batwoman is here too."

Green Lantern immediately looked in her direction. "Two for the price of one, huh?" He raised his ring hand, a green light sparking from it. "This one the High Councilor will want to see personally."

Before anyone could move, Black Lightning shot a hand up, electricity crackling around it. A bolt of lightning fired from his palm, racing up towards the roof, blowing a hole right through it. However, the piece of destroyed roof just happened to be where one of the main support beams for the ceiling was, destroying that as well. Cracks raced out in all directions from the hole, followed soon by large chunks breaking off and falling to the floor.

Green Lantern and Hawkgirl raised their arms up to cover their heads, even as they let out cries of surprise. The rubble landed on top of them, along with Black Lightning, all three disappearing from sight.

Unfortunately, the collapsing roof was heading right for Batwoman. Turning around, she launched herself off from the rafter, moments before it was torn apart by the building's implosion. Activating the electric current in her gauntlet, she grabbed her cape and felt it stiffen behind her. Gliding, she headed right for the back office, closing in on it rapidly. Unfortunately, the collapsing ceiling was not far behind her either.

This was going to be close.

Batwoman gritted her teeth as she approached the open doorway. She didn't look behind her because she knew such a move would kill her momentum and that would make all the difference between her reaching cover safely, or being crushed alive. Drawing closer, she released her hold on her cape when she was mere feet away, the cloth going slack and she immediately drop downward while continuing her forward pace.

Her feet touched the ground and she immediately pushed off the floor, going into a dive as she passed through the threshold. She went into a roll from her shoulders down her back until her feet were under her. By the time she looked to the doorway, a cloud of dirt hit her as the entrance was completely closed off.

For a moment, Batwoman held her breath, unsure as to why she did so. She released it then, panting for several moments. She was safe for the time being, though she couldn't say the same for Black Lightning, or the others.

Damn it all.

* * *

The missile Batwoman uses on King Shark is one I took from Batman/Superman: Public Enemies, in which Batman uses that tactic against Shazam. I rather liked that little exchange and thought it would work well with Batwoman here.

To Guest: If this chapter is any indication, the vigilantes didn't make it out too well.


	12. Rise From The Ashes

The rubble shifted; it was slightly at first, then it became more noticeable before chunks of debris were pushed to a side and a green dome emerged.

A moment later, the dome disappeared, John and Shayera standing up in the refreshing air. A glance around showed the building was in ruin, its back wall and a part of the ceiling there the only parts standing.

John scowled. This little venture had proved to be quite fruitful, what with the capture of Jefferson Pierce and Batwoman—the latter especially. Out of everyone, she was the one high command wanted due to her appropriation of the Bat Symbol.

Looking down to his feet, he saw Black Lightning lying not too far away, a puddle of blood surrounding his corpse. Though the Green Lantern had managed to shield the three in his bubble construct, the former Insurgent had expired shortly after.

He blatantly ignored the crushed side of the man's skull, which was quite mace-shaped.

More sounds of shifting rubble came off to his side, which the Lantern aimed his ring at. Soon, Major Force appeared, rage twisting his face. "Where is that bastard!" he roared, looking every which way. "We ain't done yet!"

"You'll stand down," John ordered, which caused Major Force to snap his head towards him. "The fight is over."

"But he's getting—"

"He's dead," he bluntly interrupted, gesturing with his now-relaxed ring hand to Black Lightning's body. "The fight's over. Now pick him up and take him back to the Hall."

Major Force stared at him for a moment before he straightened his posture, holding himself at attention. "Yes, Sir," he replied before stomping towards the Green Lantern and subsequently Black Lightning. Looking away, John surveyed the area, quickly noting chunks of ice, which were currently melting. Must have been what was left of the Insurgents Killer Frost froze and were broken apart by the collapsing building.

Speaking of whom…

Killer Frost walked up to him and Shayera, a hand rubbing the back of her head. "What happened?" she asked as she looked around the area.

"A last ditch effort to escape," Shayera told her. "You and King Shark go look for Batwoman, though I'm not expecting you to find her."

That was when another pile of debris was shaken loose and King Shark emerged. Oddly enough, he had small pieces of concrete sticking to his face, though that was because of the bits of adhesive that were stuck to him. John was familiar enough with the glue grenade the outlaw used, though it was a first for her to use it on someone's face.

However, because he was looking in the shark man's direction, he noticed another pile of rubble, one that was leaning up against what was the back office—the location of their fake bait. Seeing as it was still standing, if there was one place Batwoman would've taken refuge in to avoid the falling debris, it would be there.

Immediately, he aimed his ring and fired a green beam at it. The moment the beam touched the chunks of cement, the entire pile glowed green. Moving his arm, he moved the rubble to a side, revealing the entrance to the office. Without a word, King Shark trudged over to the doorway, stopping in front of it as he leaned in.

He then turned around. "There's a large hole in the wall," he announced to them.

"At least we know which way she escaped," Shayera remarked before looking to Killer Frost. "You know what to do."

"Yeah, yeah," Killer Frost brushed off as she headed towards her comrade. Ignoring the exchange, John looked to his wife.

"You should probably keep an eye on those two. Knowing them, they'll try and kill her instead of delivering her to the High Councilor."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," the Thanagarian smirked at him.

He returned the look. "It is when she's the only one specified to be captured alive."

"Yeah, yeah," she copied Killer Frost before opening her wings and taking off into the air. John watched her with a bemused look on his face. He stayed that way, even as his comm link beeped in his ear.

* * *

Well, today wasn't going the way everyone had expected. Cyborg stared at the computer monitor as an image of the destroyed warehouse featured prominent.

For weeks, he had been leaking out intel on a stash of 5-U-93-R at that location. Even arranged for an armed guard to patrol the grounds to give it an authentic look. Like moths to flames, the Insurgents came, lead by two of their most wanted members.

Booyah.

While Cyborg hadn't seen the fight, he had detected the lightning bolt that blew a hole in the roof and then caused most of the warehouse to collapse. Checking the active comms in the area, he saw five of the Regime's there.

Well, might as well see who was still alive.

"Watchtower to Lantern," he hailed over the comm link. "How goes things in Erie?"

" _Warehouse team is all clear,"_ John Stewart answered him after a few seconds, which was great since that meant all five of their agents were still alive. " _Major Force is taking Black Lightning's body back to the Hall of Justice."_

Oh, yeah! Chalk up another one for the good guys! "Good news, Lantern," he commended him, a smile on his face. "What about the other target?"

" _She got away, but Shayera is taking Killer Frost and King Shark to search for her. I'm betting they're going to come up empty on that one, though."_

"I'll take you up on that bet." If there was anyone that knew how to hunt, it was Hawkgirl. She had a lot of the same abilities as a bird of prey after all, so the target couldn't hide in plain sight. Then there was King Shark, who could smell blood miles away. Between those two and with the Frost lady as back up, there was no way some girl in a costume could escape.

" _Hundred bucks says she gets away."_

"You're on." Cyborg frowned then. For someone that was firmly on their side, it was strange that John Stewart would bet against them. "You seem pretty confident about this."

" _I knew the original Bat back in the day. That guy could get in and out of a place without anyone knowing. This Batwoman has a bunch of the same skills."_

Cyborg was aware of the stories about the Batman. Even before he was...enhanced, there were whispers and rumors about his accomplishments. Still, all it took was a bomb to take him out. Batwoman didn't have nearly the same reputation, so there was no way she could match. She was as good as caught.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't around back then either," he retorted.

There was a pause over the comm before, " _You might have a point there, Vic. If you want to help out, put some satellite coverage over Erie."_

That caused him to raise his one eyebrow. "You want me to cover the entire town? That seems a bit unnecessary."

" _It's just a suggestion. Do whatever you think will help you win the bet."_

Oh, was that how it was? "Fine, get ready to pay up," he muttered to himself as he tapped on the keyboard. As it so happened the satellite he was using was just about to exit the area, but another one was ninety seconds out and closing. Accessing its mainframe, he gave it the coordinates, keeping it over the entire area until he was sure he could shrink the range.

A minute and a half later and he had a bird's eye view of the entire town. Tapping on the keys, he zoomed in towards the warehouse, though he kept it several frames out unlike the previous view. It was because of this he saw it.

Several blocks away, in a building close to the Memorial Plaza, a bright light flashed. An instant later and an alarm rang out, indicating a power surge.

 _What the hell?_

Cyborg immediately contacted John. "Hey, Lantern, I just got a large power surge in your area. It's in a building by Memorial Plaza."

John immediately replied, " _I'm on it. Where's our nearest garrison?"_

As it just so happened, that garrison was also by the plaza. Considering what the plaza meant to the Justice League and the past history with the depicted hero's monuments, they were making sure what happened in Gotham didn't happen here.

"There's a team right by the plaza," he informed the Green Lantern. "They also have a supply of the 5-U-93-R. Want me to call them in?"

" _Do it. I'm not sure what this is, but I want to nip it in the bud as soon as possible. Lantern out."_

* * *

Batwoman stumbled into the crappy room, plopping down on the ripped up couch. Just to think it hadn't been that long ago that she had met up with Black Lightning here for their failed mission.

He was dead now, no question about it. Green Lantern had gone for a killshot considering he hit Black Lightning right where his heart was. Apparently he had been off just by a tiny bit considering her friend had managed to retain consciousness and offered her her only way out.

Damn it.

They could not afford this. Every day the High Councilor and his regime were consolidating power, which made taking them all out even tougher. In turn, every day that passed caused the Insurgency to lose manpower. Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle, had fallen not too long ago either. They were down another of their very few meta-humans. Before long, it would just be former vigilantes left and whatever chance they had was effectively gone.

"Rough day at the office?"

Batwoman didn't even flinch. She had known she wasn't alone in this tiny room. Unfortunately, this was the last person she wanted to deal with, especially after how fucked up everything had become. Life, however, wasn't going to let her properly mourn until she got this over with.

Warily, she turned her head, the redhead cascading down her opposite shoulder as she looked at a green-clad man perched on a stool, his hands resting on top of a bow with its other end pressed onto the floor. "What brings you here, Queen?" she greeted blandly.

Oliver Queen didn't so much as flinch from the use of his name. He had been called as much for some time now, though the reason for that was a touchy subject. The Green Arrow moniker was pretty much useless for anonymity. He had aged quite a bit too since the last time he had gone under that name, with white hair accentuating his blond at his temples.

Queen didn't bother with pleasantries this time. "I heard about what happened," he said succinctly. "I'm sorry about Jefferson."

Batwoman sighed. "So am I." She turned her head to look down at the floor, hunching her body over as she did so. "It's been a bad day."

"That kinda happens when you place all of your hopes and dreams on a magic pill," the archer commented. "Mention 5-U-93-R and you all go scrambling for it. Of course the Regime would figure that out and use it against you."

The 5-U-93-R—or magic pill as Queen put it—was an enhancement compound that gave your average, everyday man and woman the strength of Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as their durability. The moment the Insurgency had gotten their hands on a supply of this pills, they had struck quite a few blows against the Regime. It allowed people like her to go toe-to-toe with Hawkgirl, Shazam, and the other meta-humans.

Though he was right, that didn't stop anger from welling up within the redhead. "Can you not do this right now?" she seethed as she glared at the blond man. "Unless your next words are you're coming back, then I don't want to hear it."

Which was a point of contention between the two of them, along with a host of others. Queen had left the Insurgency a couple years back, saying that their long, endless fight of the Regime was doomed. He would do everything he could to survive—not to mention take his own shots at the Regime the way he best saw fit—but his allegiance was over. She couldn't blame him for his reasons, but she knew his preferred ones were extreme and went in the face of what they were trying to accomplish. It was one thing to tear down the Regime, but it was another to do it by their means. While Queen had yet to be reported as killing someone, be it the armed police force, or the meta-humans of the Regime, it was only a matter of time.

"Sorry, but I can't do that," Queen told her, not that she was surprised. "But that doesn't mean I can't help you from time to time. Right now, you need someone to help you through this. You and I both know you don't handle loss well."

"Pot meet kettle."

That caused a smirk to appear on Queen's face. "Touche." Then he became serious again. "Are you going to be alright?"

She sighed again. "Not today. Ask me tomorrow."

"What are you going to do?"

"Long term? I'll keep fighting." And she would do that until she breathed her last breath, which it wouldn't surprise her if that was the case. She blamed her idol for ingraining the doctrine of fighting for lost causes into her. "Short term: I'm not sure."

"Then let me recommend getting out of this place of yours," the blond man suggested. "Hanging around here with all your memories of Jefferson aren't going to do you good. If there's somewhere else you can go, I highly recommend it. Take some time to grieve, regroup, then plan your next move."

That wasn't all that bad of an idea actually. In fact, she had been meaning to go check on her place. It seemed today would be that day. "I think I'll take you up on that," she said after a moment. "If you need me, I'll be home."

A comforting smile appeared on Queen's face. "That a girl. Take all the time you need, I'll make sure the High God Complex and his minions don't bother you."

* * *

The last thing he could remember were the flames. He had gotten his arms up to guard his face, a feeble defense as the fire washed all over him. They were bright and hot, greedily burning at his body. Then came the force of the blast slamming into his body, throwing him backwards. The last thing he saw was a wall of orange and red, followed by a flash of blinding whiteness, and then darkness.

It was to the darkness when he came to. That and a pounding headache. In fact, his body felt disoriented, which caused a wave of nausea to settle in his stomach and the feeling of bile working its way up his throat.

Batman groaned. He felt like he had just gone fifteen rounds with the current heavy-weight champion and lost. Pressing his hands down on the ground, he slowly pushed himself up. His eyes opened, which he then quickly closed. The light was blindingly bright and he could feel his eyeballs burning from the exposure. He kept himself like that, on his hands and knees as he slowly recovered.

The last thing the vigilante remembered, he had been trying to deactivate a bomb. If his last memory served him right, he was pretty sure he failed. So was this heaven? Hell? None of the above?

Well, to be fair he was pretty certain it was the last option. He vividly recalled his previous death experiences and none of them were like this. Batman was pretty sure that he was alive and well, though all that did was confuse him. Even with his armor, there was no way he was supposed to survive an explosion at such close range.

Again, he opened his eyes and thankfully was able to keep them open. The dark-clad man found himself looking down at a steel floor, its crossed-shaped rivets pressed into his gloved palms.

That was the first sign telling him something was up. Tilting his head up as he fully pushed himself to crouch on his feet. As his arms hanged at his sides, he soon found he was in the middle of a wide open, empty room. The light was coming from a line of windows that circled around the building. He was pretty sure it was a warehouse, but he wasn't too positive.

What he was sure about was this was not the factory he had been in previously. Well then, his first priority was to find out where he was. Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out his palm pilot and activated it. He waited a few seconds before the message UNABLE TO CONNECT appeared on the screen.

That shouldn't have happened. This device was connected to a Wayne Enterprises satellite; in fact, it connected to all of them. The chances that a signal would not be caught was minimal. The only way was if all of the satellites were disabled or destroyed, which was impossible. There was something else afoot. Knowing his luck, it would be something simple, like a faulty wire.

Shoving the device back into his pouch, Batman stood up on his feet. Surveying the room, he soon saw one that had a large square in it, a door handle towards a side. That was his most likely exit.

Before he could take a step, however, dull bangs came from the other side, right before the door slid open. Immediately, men in black suits and what was best described as Darth Vader helmets stormed. Several took knees as they aimed automatic weapons at him, others standing right behind that line, also aiming their weapons at him. There was a strange symbol on the upper left portion of their chest plates, but he was too far away and had other things to preoccupy himself with to study it further.

The moment the crowd stopped growing, one of the men called out to him. "Member of the Bat Underground, surrender yourself at once!"

 _Bat Underground?_ Batman allowed his cape to envelop his body, hiding it from sight. If they were trying to arrest him, they were going to have to earn it.

"Last chance, we have taken the enhancement pills and we will crush you if need be."

Oh, now he _really_ wanted to surrender. "Take your best shot," he goaded.

"If that's the way you want to play it," the masked man shot back.

In an instant, Batman tossed off his cape and threw a smoke pellet on the floor in front of him. As a cloud of smoke exploded, he fired his grapple gun up towards the ceiling and immediately shot up into the air, just before the first gunshots were made. As he drew higher and higher, Batman reached into his belt and did not pull out his bat-shaped shuriken. Instead, he went for something new.

They were best described as small, round, metal disks. There were eight gunmen and, as it so happened, he had eight of these little devices. With a toss, he sent them falling towards the men, even as he stopped his own ascension.

As the disks neared the men, the magnet in each of them immediately pulled them to the guns, or at least that's what should have happened. Instead, they all attached to various places on the men's helmets.

Well, this was going to prove most interesting.

The number three appeared on each and every disk's forward facing surface, then counted down to two, then one. The moment they hit zero, each exploded, a rapid fire blasts not unsimilar to that of the machine gun. Each man's head jerked in the opposite direction of the blasts, causing them to stumble. While he normally would've been concerned by this, the helmets were sturdy and they withstood the blasts. At most these men would have concussions, but they would be alive.

In fact, they had dropped their weapons as they reached up for their heads. It wasn't the way he wanted it to go, but it did give him the result. Disengaging his grapple claw, Batman dropped to land right in front of the men, going into a crouch upon landing. Immediately, he shot up, throwing an uppercut to the man's chin.

Then promptly regretted it. Though he forced the helmeted man's head to snap back, it had felt like punching a wall. His arm shuddered as a jolt of pain shot down it. Grunting, Batman pulled his arm back, grabbing his wrist to soothe the pain. However, he was quite aware of the armored man recovering and throwing a fist at him.

It was on instinct that Batman reacted. Ducking the punch, he shot a hand to grab the man's wrist and pulled on it to keep it moving forward. Twisting his body, he brought up his other arm, keeping it bent as his elbow went right into the man's armpit. Using his opponent's momentum against him, he hauled the man off the ground, and then drove him headfirst into the steel floor. Though the man was hard to punch, his brain was still as soft as ever and he went limp as his body collapsed onto the floor.

"Holy crap!" one of the men shouted, which caused the other men to hesitate. That was all the time he needed as he pulled out a shuriken from his belt, taping it on its base with his thumb. Swinging his arm, he sent the projectile flying at the masked man that had yelled, the shuriken exploding right in front of him a second before impact. The blast hit the man and a friend of his point blank, sending both flying backwards into a wall. However, both men landed on their feet, but their stumbling indicated they weren't perfectly fine. Still, it was troubling that they weren't finished.

Whatever was going on, Batman wanted no part of it. Until he knew what he was dealing with, he needed to withdraw, even though these men weren't going to let that happen. In fact, movement from the corner of his eye alerted him to one such man charging at him. He barely turned in time to see the punch coming at him, but that was it.

In an instant, it was Batman's turn to go sailing backwards. The air was forced out of his lungs from the blow to his chest. It was actually miraculous he managed to touch down on his feet instead of crumpling into a pile on the floor. Gasping, he sucked precious air back into his lungs.

What the hell was that?! One punch and he felt as if he had been hit by Superman! Alright, it was definitely time to get out of here. Seeing as the only exit was the open door, he would go through there. The windows were an option, but he'd rather use that as a backup just in case.

It never hurt to have a contingency.

Reaching to his belt, he pulled out a smoke pellet, even as the man who hit him was running at him. Holding his ground, Batman waited until the last second just as the charging man threw another fist at him. Immediately, he spun to the left, letting the fist fly harmlessly by as his back rolled down the length of his attacker's arm.

And then he was running, making a break for the door. Three more of the masked men were rushing at him too, the closest one with his arm raised. Throwing his arm out, he let the smoke pellet fly from his hand and hit the floor between him and the three, the smoke exploding in all directions. Instinct would cause them to slow down, which was more than enough time for the vigilante.

That left just one man guarding the exit, standing right in the middle of the threshold. He had his arms and fists up like a boxer, ready to fight.

Batman ran full speed at the man, arms pumping at his sides. As he drew near, the guard threw a punch at him, while the dark-clad man simultaneously leaped off the floor. With his arms stretched out in front of him, the distance between the two shrank quickly.

Much to the vigilante's relief, the fist sailed just beneath him, leaving him untouched. An instant later, his outstretched hands grabbed onto what was best described as straps, which connected the shoulder guards to the chest plate. The moment he took hold of the straps, he flung his legs up over his head, causing him to go into a flip. As his feet reached the peak of their arc, he tugged on the straps, throwing the man off-balance.

His legs swung down then, Batman pulling on the guard and causing him to fall backwards. The guard landed on his back as the Dark Knight went into a roll, ending up on his feet. Forcing himself to stand up, he spun around and watched as the rest of the armored men rushed out of the building behind him.

Slowly, Batman paced to his right, turning to keep the men in his field of vision. They, in turned, did the same until all of them had the building to one side, Batman's right and the guards' left.

Though he was facing them, Batman wasn't focused on them. Instead he was searching for some way to escape, seeing none. No manhole covering was visible and there was no telling if he'd be able to grapple himself to safety. While there was a distance between him and them, it wasn't great enough to risk such a move right now.

Still, while the way in front of him was giving him nothing, that didn't mean there wasn't any behind. He would just have to keep up his search. Glancing to his left then, he saw a rather large plaza, a series of stairs between the warehouse and it. There was a railing close to the men and vigilante, a bed of violets growing on the other side. In fact, there were rows and rows of violets that circled the plaza, walkways dividing each row. The only exception was the plaza's center where—

 _Is that a statue of me?_

Batman had to do a double take, which wasn't exactly something he could afford at the moment. Indeed, there was a large granite statue of him, standing proudly with his head held high.

So caught up was he by the sight that he nearly missed his internal alarm go off. Eyes widening, he leaned backwards even as he jumped, going into a backflip. A moment later, a green beam rushed right by where he had been standing. As his hands touched the ground, he sprang off of them and landed on his feet.

That was when he saw the green-glowing man float down, coming to a stop between him and the masked men, still maintaining his position in the air. Batman's mouth dropped slightly. Though he was bald and had a beard and mustache, he knew John Stewart when he saw him. The outfit was new too, what with the green and black inverse to his usual costume. So were the short sleeves and black forearm bands.

"Lantern?" he called out in bewilderment.

"Nice move," John complimented him, "but you won't get a second one. I don't know what it is with you Bat Underground guys, but this is in pretty poor taste, even for you."

Batman scowled. "What the hell is—"

Before he could finished, Green Lantern fired a beam at him. Immediately, Batman jumped to a side, twisting around to keep the blast in his eyesight. It was because of this that he saw the beam stop right before him and a large hand form. Before he could react, the palm pressed against him as the fingers wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to a side.

John then let out a war cry as he swung his arm across his body, which in turned sent Batman flying until he slammed into the side of the warehouse. He barely had time to let out a cry from the pain before he was jerked high into the air. Seeing John holding his hand above his head, the vigilante knew what was coming, but there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.

The Green Lantern swung his arm down, which in turned dropped the dark-clad man to the ground. He hit the concrete like a hammer against a nail; in fact, the ground cracked from the impact.

And still, the green hand construct never released him. John slowly drifted down to land in front of him, a hard expression on his face. "You're lucky the High Councilor will want to see you alive. Otherwise I'd take you out right here and right now."

Batman just stared up at the man, even as he raised his foot up and then kicked it down against his face. His return to darkness soon followed.

* * *

To Guest: Better or worse for the Insurgents, or the story? lol


	13. Escape From The Hall Of Justice

The room had an ominous feel to it. The stone used to make it was of a dark quality, smoothed and polished to perfection. If it weren't for the large, stained window towards the upper part of the back wall, it would've been completely dark in there.

Beneath the window was a chair, one which sat on a tall dais, where several steps were needed to in order to climb to top of it. On the steps were two heroes: Wonder Woman and Shazam.

Shazam was sitting on the lower steps, leaning forward with his hands pressed together. He was rubbing them back in forth in anticipation, as if he were ready for a ball game to start. His red and white uniform clashed with the interior decorating.

The other was Diana, who stood with her side to the main door, one foot standing on a higher step than the other. She was perfectly posed with her strong arms crossed over her chest, a stoic look on her face. She hadn't changed much in all of her years since she had joined the Justice League. The dark pants she wore were relatively new, but she had kept her body armor, bracers, and tiara the same.

John Stewart entered the room. He wasn't the least bit intimidated by the scene before him; in fact, it took a lot to intimidate him. As his footsteps echoed throughout the room, he nodded to Shazam his acknowledgement before looking to Diana. "You do realize that stance is impractical," he said to her.

Diana smirked. "Perhaps you should say that when we actually fight."

"No thanks; the scars I got the last time we spared just healed."

 _Men,_ she humorously groaned. They were willing to put their life on the line for what they believed in, but promise them a total workout and suddenly they lost their stomach for such things. The more things changed…

"What brings you here, Lantern?" a different voice asked. The source of this one came from behind Diana, seated in the high-back chair atop the dais.

Superman lounged in his large chair, arms resting on the armrests as his hands wrapped over their smooth ends. He too had a slight uniform change. Gone was the red and blue and in its place was black armor, the infamous S symbol in white. He had done away with his cape some time ago.

"You're looking well, Clark," John greeted him. "Just shaved recently?"

Superman just stared at him. While his hard stare showed what mood he was in for pleasantries, Diana openly scowled. That name had been forsaken a long time ago; the staff knew it; the Justice League members knew it; the world knew it; hell, everyone knew. Yet, John wasn't one to let such things deter him. He was pretty much the only one that called Superman by his old, Earth name. Everyone else either called him Superman, or Kal-el.

She was rather partial to Kal.

"Why are you here?" Kal-el responded, a hint of his irritation in his voice. "I distinctly recall not summoning you."

Whatever humor was on John's face evaporated in an instant. "Careful, High Councilor. I have some news you'll find very interesting, but that attitude of yours may keep me quiet."

Ah, that was another name for Kal. It was one he had come up with after the founding of their One Earth Government. All forms of government needed a leader, even if it was a figurehead, to lead it. In Diana's opinion, Superman was doing an admirable job doing just that.

Both men stared at each other, neither one willing to give in. Shazam looked uneasily from one man to the other, unsure how this would play out. Diana wasn't concerned—each one knew their place.

A sigh came from Kal-el then. "Sorry, John, I just finished talking with China and they know how to push the right buttons. What have you come to tell me?"

John waved the apology off. "It's not much, but my and Shayera's team managed to bring in Black Lightning not too long ago."

The Amazon's eyes lit up. That was great news! One more foolish mortal out of their hair. "Where did you take him?" she asked.

"The Morgue. He didn't survive the initial encounter."

"There isn't much we can do with a dead body," Shazam pointed out then.

The young man, even if his body was that of an adult in his prime, was wrong. There was plenty one could do with a corpse. "We could make an example of him," the Amazonian Princess suggested, looking up to Kal for support.

The Kryptonian seemed to mull her words over before he gave a sharp nod. Seeing this, John said, "I'll make sure to do it where everyone can see him."

Superman gave him a look then. "You didn't come all this way just to tell me that, did you?"

The Green Lantern shook his head. "There's something else. I've managed to capture one of the Bat Underground agents. You wouldn't believe it, but the guy had the audacity to dress like Batman. Figured you'd like to have a word with him."

The very temperature in the room dropped. Though Kal-el had lost his humor, his face hardening into a scowl, Diana's was written with fury. How _dare_ those animals use that name? That face? That uniform! It had gone on long enough that they had appropriated that mantel, but now they were trying to make their own Batman? The blasphemy!

Kal pushed himself out of his chair, which earned the Amazon's attention, not to mention John and Shazam's. All of them were surprised by the move. "I'd like to go see this Batman-wannabe," the dark-haired man declared, "personally."

* * *

It was with a groan that Batman woke up. His head hung, which gave him a good view of the floor. He also couldn't help but notice the leg restraints that covered his feet and calves up to just below the knee, keeping his legs apart. He could feel his arms stretched out to his sides and up.

Raising his head, he saw he was in a rather large cell. Most prison cells he was familiar with were small and cramped; this one looked as if it would allow an audience in. A glance to his left showed a long table that crossed from the front wall to the back. It was at the far end that he saw his belt and cape.

Finally, he turned his attention to the arm restraints, seeing that they covered his hands and arms up to the elbow. Testing them, he twisted his arms back and forth, even pulling on them and getting nothing for his effort. The very scene reminded him of his imprisonment on the Kalanorian Mothership.

Someone had obviously been taking notes.

Taking in a deep breath and releasing it, the dark-clad man reflected on how he had gotten here. Green Lantern's surprise attack had stunned him and left him in a compromising situation. He rather deserved his current accommodations for dropping his guard like that. Then again, that Lantern had attacked first before asking questions was different. The man he knew would've been on guard, demanding answers before launching an offensive. Restraint—which was something he admired about the man in a group of people that often went by their guts—was certainly missing in this picture. He was positive that was the John Stewart he knew, yet he was definitely different.

That would have to be a mystery he solved later. For now, escape was his top priority. "Disengage," he said and he felt his gauntlets loosen around his hands. Leaning to one side and then the other, he pulled his hands out one at a time, becoming free of the arm restraints. That just left his feet and retrieving his gauntlets. Leaning forward and twisting his body to a side, he inspected arm restraints, finding a large keyhole on the outer side. It was rather thick-looking to his critical eye.

He stared at it for a moment before he reached back into the restraint, fiddling inside of his gauntlet before pulling out a large lock pick. Again, he leaned forward and turned, inserting the pick into the lock and began his search for the tumbler within. It took him a little longer than desired, but he eventually found it and disengaged it. Immediately, the restraints opened up and his gauntlet fell to the floor, making a clattering sound.

Turning to the other arm restraint, he made short work of it, unlocking it faster than the first one. He then set his sights on the leg restraints. He had to bend over at an uncomfortable angle, but he got them undone without much complication.

Taking a moment to retrieve his gauntlets and place them back on his arms—not to mention returning his lock pick back to its compartment in his glove—he then moved over to the table. Grabbing his cape, Batman swung it over his shoulder and attached it to his person. Next came his belt, checking many of the compartments first to make sure they hadn't been emptied first. The last thing he needed to do was assume they were still full when they weren't.

Finding his equipment was still in place, he then wrapped the belt around his hips and connected it, making an audible click as the clip entered the buckle and attached the two ends to each other.

This left him with one last thing: getting out of the cell and then this facility. Unfortunately, that's where he reached his first obstacle. The doors were completely smooth, indicating the only way out was to have access to the locking mechanism and control panel on the other side. That left him with the undesirable choice of waiting for someone to open the door for him.

It took awhile, but he was ready when the door slid open. One of the armored men he had seen at the warehouse strolled in, unarmed. His body language was one of alarm and surprise. So focused on the empty restraints was he that he never saw Batman coming.

His hiding place had been simple: he had hid in the corner out of sight of the door. With silent steps, he was right behind the guard. In the blink of an eye, Batman kicked out the man's feet eve as he pressed his hand against the back of the man's helmeted head. Using gravity as he kneeled down, he slammed the man face first against the floor.

Letting go of the back of the guard's head, the vigilante flipped him over and pulled off his helmet. A young man, possibly in his 30's looked at him in a daze. That faraway look in his eyes disappeared in an instant the moment he caught sight of the Dark Knight.

Batman jerked back as the guard threw a fist at him. The moment it reached its full extension, the dark-clad man grabbed the arm by the wrist and gave it a twist, which caused the man to cry out. Forcing the arm down and away from the guard's body, he then rammed his knee right into the forearm, pinning it down to the floor.

By then, the armored man had stopped his screaming and had reached for his belt. His hand pulled something out and he was bringing it to his mouth. Immediately, Batman caught him by his arm and forced it back, keeping it raised in the air. From what he could see, there was a green pill clutched between the man's fingers.

Slowly turning his head to the man, he stared at him with his blank white lens before demanding, "What is this?"

"I ain't tell you jack, dead man," the guard spat at him. "You better hope I don't take this pill, or it's all over for you."

Batman gave him a dispassionate look before he raised his free hand and slammed his fist into the man's hand. Immediately, he cried out, his fingers losing their grip on the pill and let it dropped to the floor, where it bounced away. Watching the pill come a stop, he then turned his attention back to the man. "You were saying?"

The man kept his defiant look. "Gloat all you want; the High Councilor is on his way and you're dead the moment he's here."

The guy had bravery, he'd give him that. Yet, this wasn't the first headstrong man he had interrogated; he knew how to handle these types. "Some of your friends mentioned enhancement pills when I was captured. I'm assuming that's one of those pills."

The man didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a yes." He then held his free hand above the guard's face, curling his fourth and fifth fingers into his palm as the other three were extended out. "I'm curious to see how effective those pills are when someone without eyes takes them."

That got the guard's attention. "W-without eyes?"

"That's right. It's not that hard to pluck an eyeball out of a man's skull if one knows what they're doing." It didn't need to be said that he indeed know how to. "You can take all of those pills you want, they won't do you any good if you can't hit me."

"I-i-if I had my helmet on, you wouldn't be able to do it!"

A thought struck Batman then. "You've been trained how to fight while on those pills. That's unfortunate for you. I've been trained to fight without them, so I know better than anyone the main soft areas of the human body. Your eyes are one; your throat is one." He then leaned closer to the man's face. "Your balls are one. You probably wear armor to make sure those areas are protected, you just never realized it."

"Y-you wouldn't…"

"Keep pressing your luck, friend, and I'll show you _every...single..._ weak spot you have. You won't enjoy it and it _will_ hurt you for the rest of your very short life. You have only one option to avoid this: tell me everything you know."

* * *

John led the way to the prison cells. There was a whole wing of the Hall of Justice designed with the most advanced technology to ensure their captives never escaped. Everything from Kryptonian to Thanagarian to Earthling to Kalanorian tech had gone into it.

Reaching the doors to the cell block, two guards stood at attention next to them. Upon seeing the Green Lantern flanked by Diana and Kal, they immediately saluted.

"We'd like to go see the prisoner," John informed them as they came to a stop in front of them. Immediately, the guard on the right turned to a computer panel hanging from the wall. "How long since the last inspection?" the Green Lantern asked of the other.

"A few minutes ago, Sir," came the answer. "It was just completed before you arrived."

The doors to the cell block then slid open. "Good job," John told them before leading the way through the doorway. A long hallway reached a good fifty yards away, allowing for eight separate cells to line the left and right sides each. "I put him in Cell #3," John said as he walked passed the first cell.

They passed the second one and soon arrived at the third cell on the left. There was another computer panel to the right side of the cell door and John calmly put in his passcode. A green light shined from the panel and the cell door slid to a side quietly.

The moment Diana stepped into the cell, a frown appeared on her face. The same one also wrote itself over Kal's. "Are you sure this is the right cell?" the Kryptonian questioned.

"Of course I am!" John exclaimed defensively. "I put him in here myself."

"Did you strip him too?"

Confined to the restraints on the wall was an unconscious man wearing nothing but a white T-shirt and boxers. His head hung low, though that did nothing to disguise the bruising on his face.

"No, I didn't. The only thing I had removed was his utility belt and cape," John answered him. "We placed those on the table…"

It was obvious why the Green Lantern trailed off. As Diana turned her head to look at the table, there was a clear absence of said belt and cape.

That was completely unacceptable.

"He escaped," Kal succinctly said, mirroring her own thoughts.

"That's impossible!" John exclaimed as he whipped around to face the dark-haired man. "We had these cells built with the best tech we could get our hands on! We even tested it on League members! Diana couldn't get out of here with all of her strength!"

Diana had to admit John was right about that. Each and every one of the Justice League had been locked in these cells to test their effectiveness. Her strength had managed to get her out of the restraints after much effort, but that had left her too exhausted to break through the cell door or the walls. John's ring couldn't cut through it either. Shazam had even used his magic and that had been rendered useless.

And yet, this Batman-imposter had gotten out.

Something wasn't right about this.

"I'll put the Hall on lockdown," John said as he left the cell. "We'll catch this bastard again."

Which left Diana and Kal in the cell. "How do you think he got out of the cell?" the Amazon couldn't help but ask, looking to her black-clad colleague.

"Obviously, brute strength wasn't used," Kal surmised, looking over the beaten man in the restraints. "There are no signs that he attempted to break the restraints, nor force the cell door opened. It's almost as if he waited…"

He trailed off as his eyes widened. Immediately, he whipped his head to Diana. "Hurry! Tell Lantern to search every single guard! Our imposture is disguised as one!"

It took Diana a moment to catch up with Kal's reasoning. How could their prisoner disguise himself as a guard? He would have had to wait for one to come to him since he hadn't tried to leave the cell. But how would he have done that? There was no reason for a guard to enter the cell.

Except...if the prisoner wasn't visible. Somehow this imposter had gotten out of his restraints, hid from sight, which caused the guard to open the cell. He was then ambushed, his uniform taken from him, then as a final insult was placed in the restraints. In fact, the two guards outside of the cell block had said they had just completed an inspection! That meant the man that had just left was their imposter!

Immediately, Diana was flying out of the cell and racing after John.

* * *

The sound of klaxon rang out, alerting anyone and everyone to an alert.

Formerly empty hallways were suddenly filled with armored men, rushing to their battle stations. Seeing as many of them were practically running, Batman saw no reason to not joined them, keeping pace with them until he had to break off at a hallway branching off.

It was a tight fit, but he had gotten his entire suit into his guard's. The helmet was a bit of a problem, but that had been solved by taking off his mask. It wasn't his preferred solution, but sacrifices had to be made.

Of course, that was when an intercom came on.

" _PRISONER ESCAPE. PRISONER ESCAPE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. PRISONER ESCAPE."_

Well, that was entirely helpful. So the guards would be looking for someone that didn't look like them. Perfect.

" _PRISONER MAY BE DRESSED AS REGIME SOLDIER. ALL SOLDIERS TURN YOURSELF OVER FOR IDENTITY CHECK."_

That complicated matters slightly.

There wasn't much for gear in this combat uniform. Aside from the armor, the belt had a couple of the green pills in it, along with a couple of taser rods and ammunition for a gun. Batman was currently gunless, so the ammo would be of no use at this time.

For now, he would use the information he had gotten out of the guard. He had detailed locations of the exits to this "Hall of Justice," not to mention security protocols. For instance, all of the exits would be on lockdown until an all clear was given.

Reaching the end of a hall, he caught sight of two guards running by, neither giving him the time of day. That was alright. Looking left and then right, he then took a right, heading down the corridor until he was forced to take a left.

It was here he came across one of the soldiers all by himself. He had stationed himself right in the middle of the hallway, facing the other way. Reaching to the belt, Batman pulled out the taser rod, turning it on as the far end glowed blue. Silently, he walked up to the man, going unnoticed until he grabbed him by the shoulder and then rammed the taser rod against the side of the helmet.

Immediately, the guard cried out as the electrical pulse shorted out the comm link in the helmet. Pulling the rod back, he then slammed its bottom against the back of the armored man's neck, knocking him out as he collapsed to the floor.

Without waiting, Batman pressed on, the hallway ending in a room. There was a guard station, where three guards were, none of whom looked to him. He noticed they were talking onto their comm links, keeping in contact with the other men.

More importantly, the exit to the building was here. It was sealed off by a large steel door, a gigantic lock keeping it shut right in the middle of the door.

Returning his attention to the guards, Batman hid his taser behind his back and ran up to the station. "Come quick!" he demanded as he ran into the desk, one hand catching him from fully plowing into it. "I found someone! They're down!"

Immediately, two of the guards left their post heading to the hallway. The third stayed where he was, opening a communication channel to alert the rest of the building to their fallen comrade. In an instant, Batman rammed his taser rod right where the comm link was located, shorting it out as the man screamed. Grabbing him by the back of his helmet, he then slammed him face first onto the computer panel and then pulled him away from it. Releasing his hold, he watched the man fall to the floor, lying there in a heap.

"Hey!" Spinning around, Batman saw the other two guards, who had stopped leaving and returned upon hearing their comrade's scream. Immediately, the vigilante threw the taser rod, one end nailing the guard on the left in the face. The impact stunned him, causing him to stumble back a step. That left his friend to scramble for his sidearm or taser, there was no telling which at this point.

Batman charged at the men, going into a slide to keep low. Coming to a stop in front and between them even as he coiled his legs underneath him so that he could get on his feet, Batman crossed a fist over his chest before swinging it back, bashing the bottom of his fist against the side of the rightmost guard's knee. The man cried out as his leg twisted into an unnatural position, stopping his hands fumbling at his belt.

This allowed Batman to shoot his hand up and pull the taser rod at of the guard's belt. Figuring the uniforms were uniform in nature, he was proven right as he pulled out the rod. Swinging it down, he kneecapped the other guard, causing him to drop to a knee as he shrieked. Rising up onto his feet, Batman struck at the right guard, hitting him against the side of his head with the taser rod, knocking his head to a side. He then crossed over again, repeating the same action to the left guard.

Lastly, he brought up one leg and lashed out with it, delivering a kick to the right guard's face and knocking him onto his backside. More importantly, he went limp the moment he touched the floor. That just left the left guard. Turning on the taser, he then forced the glowing end into the man's masked face and tasered him. Immediately, his body went stiff from tetanus, sparks shooting out from where the taser made contact.

And then he fell. Looking at the fallen men, Batman then returned to the guard station, seeing the first one still unconscious. Setting the taser rod on the desk as he sat himself at the first computer monitor, he accessed the program, using his prison guard's identification—another piece of intel he had interrogated out of him. Using it, he was able to bring up the current security protocol, seeing a layout of the building with its exits marked.

It would have been easy to just unlock the exit he was at, but that would just pinpoint his location. If he wanted a successful escape, he needed confusion. Fingers typing on the computer, he cancelled the current alert, authorizing the all clear. The intercom came on a moment later.

" _WE HAVE AN ALL CLEAR. REOPENING ALL ENTRANCES AND EXITS. RETURN TO STATIONS."_

The heavy lock on the steel door came undone then, an audible, deep CLICK being made. A diagonal line appeared from the top left corner to the bottom right, the steel doors sliding to the top right and bottom left corners.

Continuing to type in commands, Batman made sure to have every entrance and exit open its doors. It would take some time for the guards to realize that the reason for this was to open up as many escape points as possible while giving himself every opportunity to successfully leave. Some men would be deployed outside, but all on the wrong sides of the building.

However, if Green Lantern was on the premises, that could make leaving a bit more difficult. He could take to the air and commence the search from there. That meant he needed to get out and get out of sight as soon as possible.

As the doors opened, he left the station and darted through the doorway. He kept up his pace even as he looked to the skyline. The first thing he noticed was the futuristic look they had, nothing like the skyscrapers and brick-and-mortar he was familiar with. However, in spite of the look, there were no flying Jetson cars. In fact, it was just a architectural design that had taken over the city.

At least he knew what the guard had meant by Neo-Metropolis.

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: Batman doesn't cheat Death; Death is too afraid to take him lol

To the second Guest reviewer: Thanks!


	14. Bat vs Bat

Superman wasn't happy.

He was a virtual stone gargoyle as he sat on his throne...ahem, large chair. Shayera would've rolled her eyes if she wasn't completely surrounded by the others. Someone who had disagreed with Superman had accused him of sitting on his throne above everyone. Superman and Diana had disagreed with that accusation, referring to the Kryptonian's seat as a large chair. The disagreer continued to disagree. He was then burnt alive by Superman's heat vision.

Such accusations weren't said in the man's presence ever since.

Tonight, however, the entire League had been called in. The original members plus their new flock—even Cyborg had beamed down from the Watchtower to attend. Well, they were missing one member actually, but he was indisposed of at the moment.

Sometimes it paid to be the ruler of all the oceans.

A hologram was playing before them. It was of the guardroom which lead to the side entrance. Three guards were manning the station when one entered the room. He rushed up to the desk, getting the three guards' attention.

The frame stopped.

"This is our escapee," Superman intoned. "You'll notice the taser he's holding behind his back."

Indeed he was. The feed resumed. Two of the guards bolted to the hallway, leaving the escapee and the other guard at the station. With brutal efficiency, he used the taser to take down the guard and throw him to the floor. He then turned around and went after the other two. They didn't stand a chance as he went for their knees, then their heads, and finally laid the final blows. It had taken a handful of seconds to do all of that.

"Geez, that's insane," Shazam said breathlessly. "It's like something out of a kung fu movie!"

"Not the time, Shazam," Cyborg warned him. A quick glance to Superman just showed how much he appreciated that comment—meaning he didn't at all. "Mind telling the rest of us why you brought us all here?" the half-man, half-machine asked, looking to the Kryptonian.

Diana took over the meeting. "This is the man Green Lantern brought in from the Memorial Plaza. We believe he is a new member of the Bat Underground; how they managed to keep such a person a secret is currently unknown, but he's just been unleashed."

Enchantress raised a hand, which earned her a nod from the Amazon. "I'm still not seeing how this is important. If Lantern managed to capture him once, he can do it again."

"It's important because he has disappeared," she answered the sorceress. "John already searched the surrounding area and wasn't able to find him. He's somewhere in Neo-Metropolis."

"How do you know this?" Shayera quickly asked. If it was already known he was in the city, then a door-to-door search was needed to flush him out. It didn't require the entire League to be summoned. Hell, not even their lackeys were here, not that they were usually called in for meetings. It was one thing to have them in a fight; it was another to plan an operation with them. Most didn't have the brainpower to plot and were best used as super-powered soldiers.

When an answer wasn't forthcoming, the Thanagarian scowled. "Don't tell me you're assuming he's still in the area. How long ago did this happen? A few hours? That's plenty of time to get a ride and hightail it to somewhere else. He could very well be in another city by now."

"Shayera's probably right," John agreed, sighing reluctantly.

"That's unacceptable." Superman leaned forward in his chair, though he never removed his hands and arms from the armrests. "I want him brought back now. I want to know why he's wearing a Batsuit; I want to know where he got his training."

"Maybe it was the old-fashioned way?" Shazam suggested, earning him many stares. "What? The feed showed a karate master, right? He could've trained himself for a long time and just got recruited."

"That is a good point," John joined in. "Which means he may not be one of a limited number of potential Insurgents. I know we've been at this for awhile, but the level of mastery the escapee showed would have taken years to get, maybe even more than a decade. No way would the Bat Underground have the time and resources to have a small army of these kind of guys trained."

"Unless it isn't skill," Cyborg pointed out. "We were able to give superpowers to people in pill form. Who isn't to say the Bat Underground hasn't made their own version with martial arts skills?"

To Shayera that was dumb. If you could make a pill that granted abilities, why go for fighting skills? It made more sense to give super-strength, or super-speed, or an increased healing factor. There were just a multitude of things she could think of that such technology could be used for.

"Which is why I want him brought in— _alive,_ " Superman stressed, causing the Thanagarian to raise an eyebrow in response. It had been a long time since the Kryptonian had advocated the use of restraint. "I want to learn everything we can, even what this man knows about the Insurgency. Any information that allows us to end their petty resistance is worth the effort."

"Cyborg, you'll be manning the satellites," Diana instructed. "Find whatever you can on how this man escaped. If you can track him to a safe house, or hideout, we want to know where and for how long he was there. John, Shayera, and Shazam will do aerial surveillance. Cover every last inch of Neo-Metropolis. Raven and Enchantress will use their magic to sniff him out through the ethereal plane."

"What about the others?" Shayera asked. They had quite a few former bad guys on their payroll—not that they were getting paid with anything material, just their lives—why not use them? "Having Killer Frost and the others cooling their heels may not be the way to go with them."

"What do you propose, Sister?" Diana questioned.

"John, Shazam, and I will form teams and have them patrol the city, the three of us keeping an eye on them. They can at least do a door-to-door sweep while we keep an eye from the sky."

"Good idea, Shayera," Superman praised her. He even leaned back into his throne, resting comfortably. "I'll leave your teams to your discretion. Is there anything else?"

The only response he got was silence. "Then go do your jobs," he ordered them.

With that, the Justice League left the room, leaving Diana and Superman behind. A part of Shayera prickled at that. Ever since Zatanna's insurrection five years ago, the Kryptonian had been content on leaving the League's activities to the others. He rarely left the throne room now and Diana was constantly at his side. While she did leave it on certain occasions, such as her retreats to Themyscira, those were becoming less and less common. One might say the two were more content in each other's company.

If that was the case, then the winged woman was going to give them a piece of her mind. She was just as invested in their cause as they were and she would not be relegated to second-tier status.

Soon, she found John and Shazam gathering around her as the three headed down a hallway in the Hall of Justice. "Can one of you tell me why this is so important?" the red-clad hero asked them.

Shayera was thankful that John chose to be the one to answer the young man. "Batman was a friend. Not all of us got along with him, but he was one of us."

"And now that someone's wearing his mask, that's upsetting everyone." Shazam nodded as if he understood everything. "I can get that."

"Do you? Can you imagine if one of your friends was killed, but then some maniac decided to take their place? Claim that they stand for what your friend did and use it against you?"

"...okay, I guess I didn't. I do now."

"At least you had the wisdom not to say it in front of Superman and Wonder Woman," John remarked. "That conversation would not have ended well for you."

"Were they that close to him?"

"Diana was," Shayera answered this time. "Superman not as much. I think he takes anything against his regime personal. If the Insurgents had named it the Flash Underground, he'd be just as serious in taking it down."

"Well, you gotta give them points for tastes," Shazam said then. "Bat Underground sounds a lot better than the Flash Underground."

Shayera and John shared a look, smirks appearing on their face. The kid was alright; immature to be sure, but alright.

* * *

He had entered the city limits of Neo-Gotham a couple miles back. Ever since, the hairs on the back of his neck had stood on end.

There was something wrong here. Gotham—his Gotham—had changed so much. Like Metropolis, it had gone all-in on a futuristic makeover. Though there were still some older, brick-and-mortar buildings, the majority belonged to the new design. As he passed vehicles, they too were sleeker with more aerodynamic features than the cars and trucks he was used to.

Yet, that wasn't what disturbed Batman. What did was the lack of noise. There were no loud, blaring car horns, or people shouting at the top of their lungs in either terror, or anger. In fact, there wasn't even a scrap of litter in the streets.

Gotham...was clean.

Since his escape from the "Hall of Justice," Batman had kept his guard uniform on. He found that no one messed with him the moment they caught sight of him, so why take it off? He had then gone to a bunker he had in Metropolis—now Neo-Metropolis. Part of him wondered if this was some alternate-Earth he was on, though it seemed if he had a doppelganger, he had taken the same steps he had. In the bunker he had found supplies and even a motorcycle waiting for him. He hadn't stayed like, but he did take the opportunity to restock his belt and fix his connection problem with his palm pilot. Oddly enough, all it had taken was a quick device sync with the computer there to restore it.

Currently, he was straddling the motorcycle as he slowed to a stop. He had entered a residential area of Neo-Gotham, one he was rather familiar with. It was one of the suburbs towards the north side of town and from the look of it, it had resisted the call for change that the rest of the city had answered. There was something comforting about that.

In fact, he saw a young couple strolling down the sidewalk, clearly smitten with each other. Sitting on his bike on the side of the street, Batman watched them. There was no paranoia, no stress, no worry; they were simply taking a late-night stroll without a fear of being mugged.

How had this happened?

As it turned out, what the couple had to fear was not a criminal. Seemingly out of nowhere, one of the masked guards appeared; no doubt he was just patrolling the area. However, instead of ignoring the couple, he made a beeline right for them. There was no nightstick, no gun pulled. In fact, the moment the couple saw him, they both froze.

Even from where Batman was seated on his bike, he heard the patrolman say, "You're out past curfew." There was no question, no inquiry as to why they were out; it was just a cold observation, one that lent to an impending storm.

"I'm sorry," the civilian man gushed, slowly edging himself between the officer and the woman. The woman looked just as frightened as her friend and tried to make herself as small as possible behind him. "We just lost track of time and my place is just two—"

The patrolman grabbed the gentleman by his arm and squeezed down. Immediately, the man stopped his blabbering and began crying out in pain. There was a waist-high chain link fence next to them and the patrolman forced his captive up against it, twisting the man's arm behind his back. "You are under arrest for curfew violation," the officer spoke. "You will be remanded to the Neo-Gotham Precinct, where you will be incarcerated for a duration no shorter than one year."

That was enough. Though he was trying to keep a low profile—not that a motorcycle would do that—the vigilante would not watch an abuse of power occur before his eyes. Taking the patrolman down like he would your garden variety mugger was not the way to go about it, but since he was dressed as a guard, there was another card he could play.

Swinging himself off his bike, Batman marched over to the altercation, coming to a stop a few paces away. If this went south, he would not hesitate to take this officer down. The woman saw him and let out a small shriek, one that got both men's attention and caused them to look to her, then at him.

"What are you doing here?" the patrolman demanded, his grip on his captive relaxing slightly. "None of the patrol routes intersect. Get back to your route."

"You're wanted at headquarters," Batman grunted back, imitating the patrolman's detached mannerism. "I was sent to relieve you for the duration of your patrol."

That caused the officer some pause. "Why wouldn't they call that over the comm system?" he asked suspiciously.

"There's been a problem with the comm system all night. There was an update that's been causing them all to go inoperable on random devices at random times. They're calling in all patrols in the field to make sure they fix the issue and sent in replacements."

The officer mulled that before he let go of his captive's arm, but kept a hand pressed against his back should he get the idea to attempt fleeing. "I just need to take these two to the precinct. I'll take them with me."

Batman moved in then, grabbing the civilian by his arm and returning it to where the patrolman had been holding it. "I've got this. You just get your comm device looked at."

"Alright then."

Batman held his position, keeping an eye on the patrolman until he disappeared from sight. Then he addressed the couple, "Where are you two going?" His voice was softer, an attempt at comforting them.

"Two houses down," the man gasped out, even as the vigilante slowly relaxed the strain he was putting on the man's arm.

He let go of the arm. "I'll take you both there. Don't speak about this to anyone."

The man had spun around, one hand clutching at his hurting arm. "Why are you doing this?" he asked suspiciously.

"Would you rather I take you both in?"

That ended any more questioning. Keeping his distance even as the couple nearly glued themselves to each other, he chaperoned them to their house, making sure they got in and locked their door behind them. Finished with that, Batman then returned to his motorcycle, throwing a leg over it as he took a seat.

It was then he looked up and down the street, taking in the emptiness of the neighborhood. Fear was well and alive in this place, its target different. That wasn't to say there weren't corrupt cops, or ones that abused their power in the Gotham he knew, but to see it so openly was upsetting.

"I'm in a nightmare," he spoke softly before he turned on his bike and got the hell out of there.

* * *

There was no depth the Regime wouldn't sink too. In all of the years Oliver Queen had been hitting the streets, taking down gangsters and made men, never had he seen so much disregard for integrity. Hell, even criminals had honor amongst thieves.

Whoever would've thought he'd missed them?

The Regime was very much into showy demonstrations. If there was a chance to have a parade celebrating themselves, they took it. It was like a Pride Parade, just without anything worth being proud of. It was a big deal, the media did all sorts of promotion for it, and they had their PR stunt in the bag.

Their latest exhibit was most certainly not a parade. In this case, they had found a large statue in one of the most popular parks in Neo-Metropolis. It was of the High Councilor, one in which he stood tall and proud, with one hand held out as if to offer a helping hand. It was from the hand that chains were wrapped around and hung from, the body of Jefferson Pierce dangling from it.

Headline: REGIME TAKES DOWN INSURGENT BOSS. Real Headline: REGIME MURDERS AND DISPLAYS DISSENTER.

Jefferson deserved better than to be made an example. They hadn't always seen eye to eye, but there had always been a mutual respect between him and Ollie. No way would the archer allow him to be a threat to other activists, to silence their voice in fear of the same being done to them.

Because this was Jefferson, the Regime hadn't seen to simply string him up and leave. No, they left a patrol of about five men, two that stood at attention by the statue while the other three roamed the park. No doubt there were more hidden from sight.

Which is why Ollie brought his own crew.

They were the Green Arrows. He rather liked the name considering it was pointless for him to use it now. However, while he was the only one that remotely looked like an archer, the others opted for more traditional weapons—guns mostly.

Together, four of them were waiting in the bushes. Their fifth member would be showing up any—

"Boss," the fifth man said as he returned, kneeling next to them. Well, that was quick. "You're not gonna believe this, but it's only those five guys. I even checked for drones, but I got nothing."

"I don't like that," another man muttered. "It's like they're inviting us to try."

"Oh, they definitely are," Ollie replied. "All this means is that backup is mere minutes away. Since this is a park, they need drones to monitor it at all times. Without them, they're relying on the big Watchtower in the sky. All this means is if we take these guards out quietly, we can get Jefferson down from Big Black's hand and haul butt out of here. Two minutes tops."

"So how do we take out the guards?" the scout asked.

"Just leave them to me. You guys get as close to Jefferson as you can without being seen."

Receiving nods, his boys slowly began creeping towards the statue, using bushes to keep out of sight. In the meantime, Ollie went to the nearest tree and climbed it, settling down on a thick branch.

From here he could see a good chunk of the park. There were the two guards by the statue naturally, so he'd save them for last. That just left the three patrolmen. Notching an arrow to his bow, he sought them out in the dim lighting the light posts provided. There was one in clear view of the guards, one by the treeline on the opposite side of the park from him, aaaaaand...now where was the third guy?

It took a minute, but he soon spotted him far to the back and clearly out of range of the others. He was heading back to them though. Eyeballing the distance, he estimated it was about 1,200 yards away, maybe a little further. The longest recorded distance for shooting arrows was 1,222.

He was better than that.

Taking aim with his arrow, he made his adjustment for the man's slow pace and shrinking distance before he let it go. The arrow flew silently through the air until it hit the patrolman right in the middle of the face. There was a flash of electricity, indicating his trick stunning arrow had done its job. The man collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Quickly, Ollie pulled out another arrow and notched it. This one was just a blunt end, but with the force he was going to apply to it, it would be more than enough. Taking aim at the guard on the opposite side of the park to him, he fired at him, and saw him drop just like his friend.

He had another arrow ready to go, another blunted one. This one was going to be tricky. See, the guard he was targeting was still within seeing distance of his two friends by the statue. Fortunately, he was approaching one of the larger bushes. So he waited...and waited... _and waited…_

He released his arrow. His timing was spot on as his blunted arrow nailed his target in the back of his head, the force either giving him a concussion, or knocking him out—or hopefully both. The man dropped to his knees then fell over onto his stomach where he didn't budge.

That just left two more. This time, Ollie pulled out regular arrows, notching both on his bow. They formed a V as their ends were nearly together, separated only by his finger. The tips, on the other hand, were separated by a couple of inches. Pulling back on the drawstring, he then let them go.

Unlike the first three, his aim was not for headshots. This time, his arrows pierced the legs of the two remaining guards, one through the thigh while the other took it in the knee. Both cried out as they dropped to their uninjured leg.

And then Ollie's buds swarmed at the two. Though they had guns, they used them to get in close and personal, pistol whipping the guards, punching them with their bare hands, or kicking them with their feet. Regardless, they deserved to have some fun in this caper and this was Ollie's gift to them.

By the time he had jumped out of the tree and walked up to them, they had thoroughly thrashed the guards. "Alright, guys, party's over. Let's do what we came to do," he ordered.

Without hesitation, three of the men went to get Jefferson down. One of them, however, walked right up to Ollie. "I found something on one of them," he told the archer, handing a folded piece of paper. Looking at it curiously, he took the paper and unfolded it.

It was of a WANTED poster. He knew that because it said WANTED in bold letters at the top of the page. The person in question looked as if they had taken their wardrobe cues from Batwoman, though the description was of a man.

Well, this wasn't going to end well.

"Looks like some idiot is dressing up like Batman," Ollie said as he crumpled up the notice and tossed it to the ground. While he was totally against littering, and it was one of the few good things the Regime had actually enforced, one little ball of paper wasn't going to ruin the clean, pristine image of their city of pride and joy. Besides, screw the Regime. They could pick up the trash...and the wanted poster.

Ha, see what he did there?

"Chop, chop, guys, Jefferson can't rot any faster," he told his crew, even as they were beginning to lower the man to the ground. "We have a minute before backup comes and we either fight our way out, or join Jefferson up there. Me personally? I rather not dangle like a booger from Big Black's finger."

* * *

The tunnel amplified the roar of the motorcycle engine, making it louder than it actually was. Batman rode down the familiar pathway until he pulled into his cave.

He had been expecting some differences, especially if this was an alternate Earth, and he found them. However, they weren't the differences he had been expecting. The moment he pulled up along side his car, parked on the turnstile as usual, he saw that most of his cave setup was just how he had placed it. The main change was the scattering of crates and...well, garbage. It looked like a pigsty rather than the base of his operations.

That upset him, actually.

Getting off the motorcycle, Batman began stripping himself of the guard uniform, tossing it to the floor next to the bike. After removing the helmet and placing his cowl back on, he then made his way to the supercomputer, moving to the chair. As he drew closer though, he began to frown.

The computer, it was off. He never turned it off. It had a sleep mode and there was an off mode, but he let the computer go into hibernation all of the time. Frowning, he moved in front of the console, ignoring the chair for the time being. With his right hand, he typed on familiar keys, trying to activate the system.

Which was another point. Though the supercomputer wasn't on, the lights of the cave were. That meant the generator was running, so someone was using this pl—

 _There._ He felt the presence. Whoever it was, their eyes were right on him, boring holes into his back. Moving his left hand up, he began typing with those fingers while his right moved to his belt. Slowly, he pulled out a shuriken and held it at the ready.

 _Now._

Batman spun to his right until he came to face to the left side of the computer. The entire time he swung his arm out and sent the shuriken whirling through the air. He heard a clash and saw a flash of light, right before there was a dull thud behind and to his right. Turning his head, he saw a bat-shaped shuriken sticking out of the side of the chair's back.

However, this shuriken was different from his. Where his was curved, this one had its "wings" extended from closer to its head rather than the body. The outer-edge of the wings was red while its inner side was black, much like the rest of the shuriken.

That was when he heard the tell-tale sound of more shuriken being thrown. Immediately, Batman dove forward, going into a roll as the floor moved down his shoulders and back until he came to his feet. Where he had been standing, three bat-shaped projectiles hit, piercing the ground.

In an instant, Batman had his own shuriken out, but he held it. Instead, he looked out into the cave, searching for the intruder. It took a moment, but he caught a sign of movement towards his left. Immediately, he sent the projectile flying, only he released it far to his right. Even as he turned to keep the location of his foe in his sights, he was aware of the shuriken making a wide arc as it began to travel less away from him and more across the cave. If the projectile hit nothing, it would return to him once it completed it circle.

However, he had struck true. There was a cry of pain followed by someone falling to the floor of the cave. However, before they hit, their hands reached out to the cape that was trailing behind them and it immediately stiffened. The intruder's fall slowed down rapidly before their feet landed hard on the floor.

For a moment, Batman was stunned by what he saw. This person, whoever they were, was dressed in an armored suit, a red bat symbol on their chest. They were clearly a woman from the curvature of their figure, not to mention the long, flowing red hair. The woman scowled at him from behind her mask.

"Who are you?" Batman demanded then, shifting his stance to a defensive one. "What are you doing here?"

"Those are my questions, intruder," she spat back even as she assumed an offensive stance. "I don't know how you found this place, but you won't be walking out of here—or walking ever again."

 _Hmm, those were his words…_

She came at him first. Her strides were even, not a missed step made. The moment she was within striking distance, she leaped from the ground, swinging a kick at the left side of his head. Immediately, Batman blocked the blow with his forearm, his other arm drawn back. He countered with his fist, landing his blow against her stomach. She dropped back to the floor, stumbling as she tried to get her feet under her, gasping for air. Bringing his arm back, he kept it across his body and lunged forward, keeping his elbow jutted out to ram it against her face.

Despite her weakened stance, her hands shot up and caught his elbow, one hand on his tricep, the other on his forearm. Suddenly, he felt one of her feet pressed down on his front leg, on top of the thigh, the woman rising up just before the toe of her other foot slammed right into his chin. His head snapped backwards as he stumbled back a few steps, though he had the perfect view of his opponent completing a flip in midair, falling back to land on her feet.

Shaking off the blow, he made sure he had sure-footing just as his foe came charging at him again. Her first strike was aimed right for his solar plexus, a fist he caught with his own hand, fingers wrapping around it to keep it there. For some reason, he felt he knew what was coming next: an uppercut to his chin.

His premonition came true as he saw the blow coming, the woman's curling her fingers inward, palm jutting out. With his free arm, he blocked it, pushing it to aside and leaving a wide open strike zone. Quickly, he leaned forward, lunging headfirst to land a headbutt.

Except, for whatever reason, the red-haired woman backed off. She even managed to yank her own hand back out of his grasp. It was almost as if she had expected him to do that. Then right before him she jumped into the air, spinning around before she lashed out with her foot, her spinning kick nailing him right in the side of the head. Again, his head jerked to a side, but this time he allowed that unintended momentum to put some distance between them, spinning his body in the same direction as his head was going. By the time he was turned around, he saw the woman charging at him again, leaping up to do another flying side kick. It was even to the same side as her opening kick.

And again, he blocked it, only to realize it was a feint a moment later. The second her shin collided with his arm, her body continued to spin. The next blow she inflicted on him nailed him in the back of his head, sending him stumbling forward.

Alright, that was enough. Reaching to his belt, he pulled out a couple of shuriken, one in each hand. Forcing himself to twist around, he sent the projectiles flying. He had expected the woman to press her advantage, which she had, running right at him. His shuriken, however, made her drop to her knees, leaning back as far as she could to avoid them from cutting into her, the projectiles whirling over her harmlessly.

Which left her wide open as he planted one foot on the ground and raised the other one up. He snapped his foot out, the bottom of his boot slamming right into her face as she leaned forward. This bent her completely back onto her back while she continued to slide against the cave's ground, going under his upraised leg.

Bringing his leg down, Batman turned around, just in time to see the redhead coming to a stop. Though her legs had been at an awkward angle due to the position he had forced her into, she was either unaffected by it, or was ignoring the strain. Either way, she somehow moved her legs out from beneath her, flung them up above her before swinging them back down. Her back then arched, lifting her body off the floor. Within a second, she was back on her feet and glaring him down.

She was good, whoever she was. Whatever her reason for wearing the Bat symbol, she had definitely earned the right to. She was in control of this fight, leading him wherever she wanted him to go. True she had taken her lumps, but that was the price she was willing to pay to land harder blows against him.

Alright, he needed to change things up. Shifting his shoulders, he allowed his cape to envelop his body, hiding it from sight. Reaching to his belt, his hand slightly grazed the inside of his cape, the moment catching his opponent's attention if the slight tilt of her head was any indication. So, she was good at reading body language too.

This time, he went on the offensive, keeping his arms at his sides as his cape clung to his body. At the last second, he rolled his shoulders, causing his cape to lose its hold and slide behind him. His right fist flew at his opponent's face, the woman blocking it with both arms, one taking the brunt of the blow while the other pressed on the opposite side to steady it. Using his momentum, Batman lashed out with a kick, aiming to hit her against her side. She leapt backwards to avoid it, which caused him to go into a spin, kicking out with his other leg at the right moment. She dodged this one as well, backing up a step.

Again, he went at her with his right fist, always keeping his left at his side. The entire time, the red-haired woman kept her attention on that fist, blocking or evading his blows, but never losing sight of it. She knew there was something with that fist and was waiting for him to unleash it.

So he did. Throwing his hand out to a side, he watched as her head followed the hand, only for him to spread his fingers out and reveal nothing within his grasp. The surprise that appeared on her face was momentary as he finally slammed his other fist against the side of her face. She was thrown off her feet, careening through the air until she hit the ground; yet, in spite of the blow, she went into a roll, ending up crouched on her feet.

"Stop!" she suddenly cried out.

Batman held his position, but he didn't drop his guard. She was up to something.

Slowly, she held her hands out in front of her, one high and fully extended, making a stop gesture with that hand. The other was lower and closer to her body, but she kept it there in plain sight for him. Cautiously, she rose to stand at full height. "It's you," she murmured softly, before speaking louder, "it's really you."

"Mind telling me what you're talking about?" Batman suggested.

"You're Bruce Wayne."

A cold chill ran up and down his spine. How did she know that name? How could she know that it was his? Alternate dimension be damned, there was no way she could know that name and all that it meant to him. "Sorry, I think you've got me mistaken for someone else," he said lowly.

"You mean you don't…" she trailed off before a small, sad smile appeared on her face, shaking her head as if to gently reprimand herself. "Of course you don't. It's been too long."

This was starting to irritate him. She was sure she knew him, regardless of any protest he could've made. Yet, he didn't even know who she was. He was going to have to make her fess up and she would.

Without prompting, she moved her arms again, this time placing them on either side of her mask. Carefully, she pulled her mask up, along with her mane of red hair. Once she lowered it to hold in front of her, Batman saw her real face.

She had shoulder-length black hair, quite straight and unremarkable. Her face was that of a woman, neither young nor old. Her eyes were slightly slanted, indicating some Asian descent. Oddly enough, there were two faded dots on her forehead, though he wasn't sure what their meaning was.

However, throw all of those characteristics together and he knew who she was. It was like he took a sledgehammer to the stomach the moment he realized it. He dropped his stance as his mouth opened slightly from surprise.

"Cassandra?"

* * *

A few quick notes I'd like to share with y'all. For those of you familiar with the Injustice comics and games, I think you'll recognize the nightmare line. It's quite fitting for this story. Also, Ollie's thoughts on the longest arrow distance comes from the Injustice comic too, right before Superman pounded his face into paste. I'm not sure what the real record is, but I figured the comic knew.

Batwoman's batarangs, for the record, are the ones Terry McGinnis uses in Batman Beyond. I figured that with all the updates to the world and people, why not the batarangs?

And lastly, I incorporated elements of Batman and Cassandra Cain's fight from their first one in Rise of the Fifty Daggers, specifically tactics and fighting combos. I'll leave it to y'all to figure out which elements those are.

To Guest: Well, as one other reviewer has mentioned, the one weak spot the Justice League has is a man with a plan. Pretty sure most of my JL stories use that as the central threat lol


	15. History As She Knows It

She stood there expectantly, waiting for him to say something, anything. And Batman could only stare.

This wasn't the girl he had living with him, teaching her his craft, honing her fighter's spirit into something that could be used to help people. Images of Cassandra assaulted him. There she was sitting by the supercomputer, fussing over her mask on the cave floor. And there, she was trying on her modified armor, critically eyeing the yellow Bat-outline on her chest, testing the fit of her gloves on her hand, and making sure her cape didn't get in the way of her movement. And there was her holding a silver tray with a minimalist breakfast for him as he poured over case files.

He even saw her roughly waking him up in the mornings as she ripped off his sheets and forced the curtains open.

All of that flashed before his eyes, only to be replaced with the older, more mature Cassandra that stood before him. There was no telling how much time had gone by, but she waited patiently. Before, she would have shown some uncertainty at his long, emotionless gazes, but here she expected it and knew all she had to do was wait, no matter how long it took. So Batman tried to say something to break this silence between them.

"You can talk."

The expectant look on Cassandra's face dropped. "After all this time, that's all you can say?" she asked, just before a thought struck her. "That's right, you left before I learned to speak and read and write."

Each word struck him to his core. He had missed that? When? How? "How did you learn?" he asked, taking a step towards her. "You were struggling with simple words. Now you can speak entire sentences."

"That's a long story," she answered him.

"I have time."

The corner of her mouth twitched up. "I suppose you do, don't you? Before I tell you though, tell me why you're here. You at least owe me that for leaving."

 _Leaving?_ What the hell did that mean? Apparently his face was showing his confusion and Cassandra felt some leniency was warranted. "Superman and the Justice League said you were dead and even presented a body. But now you're here, completely fine. It's almost like that time everyone thought the Joker killed you and you came back a few years later."

Oh, so that's what she meant. Still, she was throwing a lot at him. He had been listed as dead? For how long? "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," he admitted to her, which caused her face to hardened.

"Then tell me what you do know and maybe we can figure something out," she suggested, her tone betraying her irritation.

He sighed. "All I know is I'm in some place called Neo-Gotham, where there are foot soldiers patrolling the streets, frightening everyone and not just criminals. And somehow Green Lantern is involved with them."

It was Cassandra's turn to look confused. "Uhh, yeah, that's how things have been for years."

 _Years?_ Batman hardened his face this time. None of this was making sense to him. "I'm missing quite a bit here."

"I guess so." She seemed uncertain now. "I'm not sure where you're trying to start."

"How about the beginning?" he suggested. He received a nod in agreement. "The last time I saw you, you were having trouble saying the new word we were working on. Then I went on a League mission to stop a series of Canidite bombs."

"Vandal Savage's bombs," Cassandra interjected. Upon seeing his stare, she elaborated, "The man behind that plot was Vandal Savage and that was part of a plan to take over the White House."

Was that what was going on? Yet, that didn't explain anything, not to him anyways. "Go on."

The dark-haired woman seemed to be lost in her own thoughts at that moment. It took her a moment before she asked, "The last thing you remember, it was going after that bomb that blew up?"

 _Batman saw the bomb in plain sight, sitting on a small folding table. He also saw the timer flashing 0:05...0:04...0:03…_

" _Oh_ —"

The vigilante nodded. "That's right." The sudden sensation of fire burning him and the force of the explosion rushed him. "I died there, didn't I?"

That caused Cassandra to raise an eyebrow. "Your presence here would indicate otherwise."

Okay, where the heck had she picked up sarcasm? He was pretty sure it wasn't him. Still, he had been in the blast radius of an experimental explosive agent. By all rights, he should've been killed; yet, he was here instead. "What happened after that?" he questioned. Maybe if he learned what Cassandra knew, he could piece this all together.

"After that, you were missing. I ended up spending my nights with Helena and the Birds," she started.

And suddenly he knew just where her sarcasm came from.

"About a month after you disappeared, Vandal Savage made his attempt on the White House. He successfully infiltrated and took the President and his staff hostage. The Justice League went in to stop it and were successful."

There was a silent "but" that was going unsaid. Batman could read it in her body language. "Something happened there," he surmised.

"The Flash, Wally West, was killed by Savage."

As if this night couldn't have hit him any harder. First, Cassandra could talk; second, Flash had been killed in the line of duty. Suddenly, he had a growing suspicious this wasn't an alternate reality.

"That was twenty years ago," the dark-haired woman said, as if she were reading his thoughts.

 _Twenty years._ He was in the future. Twenty years in the future. _Dear God._

Something about this wasn't right. Though Canidite was experimental, there was no way it could throw someone through time. Explosives simply didn't work that way.

"After that, the League lead by Superman put the whole world on notice," she continued, pushing aside his musings as he refocused on her. "They went from being reactive to proactive. Military hot spots, politically tense regions, crime-ridden cities, they went into all of them and began systematically stopping all conflict. At first, everyone was praising them.

"But then they found out problems in Africa, the Middle East, and other regions weren't just limited to those area. They realized Western governments were involved and began going after them too. The ones most hit were the ones that were on the U.N. Security Council: the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China. Shortly after that, they formed the One Earth Government and forced the world's governments to join it.

"It was there that people began to have some reservations about what the League was doing. Tensions began to well up in the superhero community and lines were drawn. The League then declared that anyone that wasn't serving justice on their side were outlaws and would be thrown in jail. That meant heroes would be placed in the same jails and prisons as the people they had personally arrested."

"A veritable powder keg," Batman commented, his hands tightening into fists.

Cassandra nodded her agreement. "Of course, with the Justice League having their eyes everywhere, they forgot just how much of a turnstile the criminal justice system is. A group of super-villains got out onto the streets and started causing mayhem. For added insult, they did it right in Metropolis."

"And with Superman pushing this new world order, he didn't take it too well."

"That's putting it mildly," she replied dryly. "Once the League captured every super villain, he proceeded to lobotomize them with his heat vision."

Batman's mouth dropped open in horror. That couldn't be, that wasn't the Superman he knew. His stomach began to twist in knots at the very thought of it. However, any doubt he had as to Cassandra's words were slowly dissipated as he looked to her forehead, right where two perfectly circular dots were.

"He didn't just stop with villains, did he?" he asked reluctantly, dreading what his gut told him to be true. With the evidence right in front of his face, he had no reason to doubt it.

Cassandra confirmed it with her next words, albeit in a roundabout way. "Sides were taken after that. You'll be happy to know just about vigilante in Gotham was against this new tactic by Superman. They even tried organizing a way to get the villains underground."

"Why would they…" he trailed off as realization dawned on him. Superman hadn't stopped the lobotomizing on villains in the streets; he had begun going into the jails and prisons. The League's new proactive mandate at work. "Why didn't anyone in the League stop him?!" he demanded, anger flushing his face.

"Stop him?" the dark-haired woman repeated as if it were the most ridiculous thing she had heard. "They were encouraging him every step of the way. They used Flash's death as justification. 'We can't let that happen again.' 'It still haunts us.' They preach it to anyone foolish enough to listen." A look of disgust was on her face. "They still do."

They had done all of this because of Flash? The very thought sickened Batman to his core. They had turned a memory into a demon, one they would use again and again to justify themselves. He had seen that too many times before. Yet, he got the feeling this insane story was far from over.

"As I was saying, the Gotham heroes began helping the bad guys, trying to get them to safety. Nightwing, Black Canary, and Huntress were leading that operation when the League interrupted us. I wish I could tell you what had happened, but at the time I didn't understand what was being said. I just knew that they were in the wrong and had to be stopped. Both sides argued with each other and finally a fight broke out. A couple of us were killed that night." A melancholy look appeared on her face. "Spoiler got in the way of Superman's heat vision and was cut in half. When Manhunter tried to go to her aid, Hawkgirl crushed her skull with her mace. I'm not sure who did it, but someone called a retreat. I was caught with Katana and after everything that had happened, Superman decided to lobotomize the both of us."

The sickening churning in Batman's stomach stopped then. A cold fury took its place. He could just imagine it, the Kryptonian holding Cassandra by the neck, or maybe one of the others held her down while he fired his heat vision, burning holes through her skull and damaging her brain.

Cassandra raised a trembling hand to the spots on her forehead. "I can still feel it sometimes," she whispered. "The pain, my fear, and then nothing."

Batman wasn't an overly emotional man and was even less expressive when he did feel. The testimonials to that were numerous. However, he knew a girl that was in need of comfort when he saw one and he closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her into his chest. Cassandra didn't resist, her arms falling to her sides awkwardly. But then, she slowly returned the embrace, burying her face into his chest.

They were like that for a long time, standing in silence while comforting the other. It was ultimately Cassandra that broke the silence. "I forgot how safe I feel when I'm in your arms," she remarked softly before squeezing him harder. "I've missed it."

She then pulled away, a sad smile on her face. Though his throat was thick with emotion, which was making it hard to swallow, the dark-clad man asked, "What happened after that?"

"I don't really know," she admitted. "It was something like a few years that I was out of action. I'm not entirely sure the exact amount since I didn't really know the concept of time then. From what I found out later, the Martian Manhunter had a change of heart. After the League began going after heroes, he decided to organize a resistance group in secret. He recruited everyone that wasn't in league with the Justice League, keeping his spot so that he could funnel intelligence. Whatever plans the League had were either delayed or rendered useless at that point. They then did a full media blitz, lambasting what became known as the Insurgency. They even used the One Earth Government as a means to further their agenda; it was no longer a government body so much as a piece of propaganda, and they've used it like that ever since.

"However, things began to go against the Insurgents, mostly because of their preference for no killing. They refused to kill anyone aligned with with the newly-formed Regime, but the League didn't have such qualms. They slowly whittled the group down, either through lobotomy, or death. Superman and the Regime always claimed they were accidental deaths, but as Helena once said, 'Tell me how Superman accidentally put his fist through Nightwing's face. It must've been a lot of accidents since his skull was paste'."

"When did that happen?"

"Later. You see, when Martian Manhunter saw the Insurgent numbers dwindling, he began going to all of Superman's lobotomy victims and began healing them. He used his telepathy powers to rewire their brains so that they could function around the damaged brain area. Since most of those people either hated Superman to begin with, or disagreed with him, they were willing to take up the Insurgency's cause—or they just went into hiding."

"Which is how you're here now," Batman surmised.

Cassandra nodded. "I was the last one he helped."

* * *

 _There was a voice. It started softly, but grew louder and louder. Then with a concussive force, she was hit with words._

 _Words with very loud voices._

 _Light. What? Room. Sit. Sitting. Huh? Clothes. Pants. Lay. Gray. Stone. Was. What was? Pain! Hurt! Hurting! Too. Much. Too much!_

 _Hands! Hair! Touching! Hands touching hair! The. The pain! Stop! Too much! Make it stop!_

"Calm yourself, child."

 _A new voice. It was soft, comforting. The pain went away. Slowly it did. Eyes, eyes that were closed. She. She slowly opened them._

 _Floor. She was sitting on a floor. Legs were lying in front of her. Back was up against a wall. A big man, green man was in front of her. He had a kind face. Had a hand on her shoulder._ "You will be okay," _he said. He said? His mouth did not open. How did he say?_

"In your mind."

 _A smile, small one, showed on his face. Then his mouth moved. "You are experiencing a rush of information. This is new to you because that is not how you always thought. It will take some time, but you will adjust."_

 _Not always thought? It did not make sense. Her eyes focused on his face. She could see warmth, kindness, gentleness. He was good. He was being good to her. She could make sense of it. Her eyes fell to his body. He had one knee on the floor. His body was relaxed, not a threat._

" _It seems your mind is resisting." Her eyes went back to his face. He was frowning. Not happy. Why was he not happy? "It is still trying to interpret my body, not my words."_

 _Something in her mind. Searching. Searching. Found. In one moment, everything changed. Though her head hurt, the pounding intensified for a moment before receding back to its previous level. The green man seemed satisfied as his small smile returned. "I'm not sure if my fix is temporary or not, but that is something we will work on. For now, we must leave."_

 _She wasn't sure why they needed to leave, but she felt as if he was right. So she tried to climb onto her feet, but found she had no balance. Her hands pressed down on the floor, trying to keep herself from landing hard on it. The green man stared at her worryingly._

 _Then something occurred to him. "You have not used your muscles in quite some time. We will need to correct that later." He then reached his big, strong arms and lifted her off the floor. With one arm beneath her knees and the other against her back, he then walked out of the room._

 _And then a loud sound rang out._

 _It scared her, her body tensing up. Why was it so loud? What was it for? The green man jerked his head to a side. "The alarm," he said in disappointment. Then he turned and walked away from it. She could only look around the hall they were in, seeing a series of doors, much like the one they had left. These were all closed though, a series of random numbers and letter labeling them._

 _Then the green man stopped. Again, his head turned to a side, but she sensed it wasn't because of the alarm. She tried to listen too, but only heard a dull thud from somewhere behind him._

" _No."_

 _He had spoken, just one word, but it meant so much more. There was concern...no, not concern. Fear. It was fear she heard._

 _Suddenly, the green man picked up his pace, coming to a space that branched off from the hall_ — _an alcove. It was empty save for what looked like a vent towards the floor._

 _The green man began to reach out with the hand that had been pressed against her back, the feel of his forearm replacing it. The fingers then stretched out, snaking their way to the vent, where they carefully did...something to it. All she knew was that he pulled the vent open._

 _Then the green man's body began to change. It seemed to wrap around her, encasing her. It was only for a few seconds or so, but when he pulled away, she was lying in the ventilation shaft, the vent covering being put back in place._

" _Stay still, Cassandra," the green man told her. Cassandra? Was that her name? It sounded nice coming from him. Then she felt his presence in her mind again. It felt as if something was dulling her mind, putting her into a daze._

 _The green man then stood up and walked away, turning into the hall. Cassandra saw all of this through the grating._

 _And then a loud explosion rang out._

 _The green man turned around, standing on one side of the alcove. Soon, there was someone else standing on the other side. "It's been you," an enraged voice growled. "This entire time, it's been you."_

" _Superman," the green man greeted. "Calm yourself."_

" _No!" Superman roared. "How dare you do this to me, J'onn! Do you have any idea what damage you've caused?!"_

" _Yes, I do," J'onn replied quietly. "It is why I'm doing this."_

 _Superman seemed taken back by this. "What? What do you mean?"_

" _Look around. All of these people robbed of their minds. It's not right."_

" _You know why I did it. It was to stop them from hurting others. To stop them from hurting themselves. I did it for them!"_

" _They disagreed with you!" J'onn yelled. Cassandra got the sense he did not normally do that. "That's all they did and you performed lobotomies! That isn't the act of a righteous man. That's the act of_ —"

" _Don't you_ dare _say it," Superman warned._

 _J'onn straightened out his shoulders, a defiant look on his face. "The act of a dictator."_

 _There was a tense silence. Then, "Do you not remember Bialya? When we deposed its dictator, you once asked me how that man could do the terrible things he did. You are repeating his example."_

" _I am saving the world!" Superman screamed. "And I will save it from its worst enemy: itself!"_

" _And who said it ever needing saving?!"_

 _Again they fell silent; however, it was Superman who ended up breaking the silence this time. "You've betrayed me. I can't believe it, of all the people who would understand, it's you. You lost your planet, just like me. You even lost your family. You should understand this better than anyone!"_

" _It is because I understand that I cannot condone this any further."_

 _Superman's face hardened. "This betrayal is the same as treason. The penalty for treason," his eyes began to glow red, "is death."_

 _Bright red beams fired from the man's eyes. They hit J'onn square in the chest, his green skin blackening. He screamed, such a terrible scream, loud and wracked with pain. Whatever those beams were made off, they grew bright, bigger, until J'onn was consumed by them. That still didn't stop her from seeing his body burned to the bone, which blacked in an instant._

 _And then those cruel beams stopped. Blackened bone scattered in every which direction. The skull though, clattered until it stopped right before Superman. The man in red-and-blue stared dispassionately at the skull before he raised his foot and set it on top of the skull. He then pressed down and shattered it into hundreds of bone fragments._

 _Cassandra stared through the grating, watching as the man seemed to soak in what he had done, then turned around and left. It was some time before she found herself alert to move. Able enough to comprehend what she had seen. Then be the last person to mourn the man that had given her life back._

* * *

"I think the only way I got out of there was because of what J'onn did to me," Cassandra admitted. "He suppressed...something, I'm not entirely sure what. But it kept me from reacting from what I saw. My heart didn't beat faster, my breathing didn't quicken, nothing gave me away to Superman's super senses. Even then, he was so enraged, I doubt he could've heard anything over the blood pounding in his ears."

She sighed then. "I went into hiding after that. Spent a lot of time trying to make sense of all the words in my head. It was a long time before I came back, but by then, Superman's Regime had consolidated power and had recruited new members. The Insurgency had done the same, but they were weakening. Once it was realized that lobotomizing could be reversed with the right power, the Regime began killing everyone that stood in their way. Nightwing was one of the first to find that out. Helena and the rest of Birds went shortly after."

A sigh. "That's when Zatanna led a revolt. She had obtained some amulet from someone she called Dr. Fate, which was promised to bring the Regime down. It was the last good chance we had and we threw everything into it. She even managed to reach Superman; but then Wonder Woman intervened and killed her. Ever since that day, Superman felt as if there were no more threats worthy of him and began delegating his responsibilities. He even formed a private army and gave them the 5-U-93-Rs."

Batman frowned. Even though he felt a pang of sadness upon hearing of Zatanna's demise, this 5-U-93-R was new information that he needed to learn about. "5-U-93-R?"

"It's a...well, for lack of a better word, it's a magic pill." At seeing his incredulous look, she explained, "They're pills that enhances the user. Strength, stamina, endurance—it heightens then to superhuman levels."

So that's what those guards at the warehouse had meant by enhancement pills. Reaching to his belt, he pulled out the pill he had obtained at the Hall of Justice. "Do you mean this?"

Immediately, Cassandra was in front of him, staring at the pill. "Where did you get this?" she asked as she looked up to him.

"From a guard in my cell. He gave it to me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The guards aren't known for being _that_ generous."

"He didn't have much of a choice."

She smiled at that, one that slowly grew more somber. "It's...so good to have you here. We've...I've lost so many people. Helena, the Birds, Black Lightning; for once it's nice to have someone come back."

"Is that the end of your story?" Batman asked then. "Because if so, a lot has been happened since I've been gone."

Not to mention the startling changes in the Justice League. Though there was clear evidence of what they had done, Cassandra's forehead being most prominent, he was having a hard time seeing the jump from defending the White House to killing people. Something just didn't make sense.

"Aside from who's dead?" the dark-haired woman spoke, drawing him out of his own head. "There isn't much left."

"Then tell me what the current status is of the Insurgency."

Cassandra blew air out of her mouth, causing some of her hair to flutter by her face. "A mess to be honest. It's splintering into factions, one led by Oliver Queen, the other by...well, me at this point. There's one group calling itself the Bat Underground and they picked me to be their leader."

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. This wasn't the first time he had heard that name. "Bat Underground?"

She grinned. "Never underestimate the power of this symbol." At this, she pointed to the bat on her chest. "When people began to feel as if they would be forever under the Regime's boot, someone found inspiration in it. Others did too. Soon, there was an underground movement working to overthrow the Regime. From what I hear, the former League Founders were furious about it."

 _Is that so?_ Though he was not happy to be waking up in this reality, it seemed there was quite a bit of work to be done. He needed to get to the bottom of what had happened. Despite the fact he had no reason to not believe the woman before him, there were gaps in her story that were missing vital clues. He needed to find out what they were. "Then I guess you have your newest recruit," he told her.

Cassandra looked stunned. "You mean...you're going to fight with us? Against your own friends?"

"My friends don't kill," he immediately responded. It was pure instinct. "Nor do they do any of the things you've said they've done. That's a line we don't cross, can't cross."

"But maiming is completely okay," the dark-haired woman added sardonically.

Ugh, that old argument. There had been quite a few people that had questioned his methods and this was one of the primary ones. "They still have a chance to reform and make something of their life. They can't do that when they're dead."

"Still, you have to admit that perhaps some people should die."

Batman leaned towards the woman. "That's the rationale that put the Justice League into the position of executioners. If the world was truly like that, that they could allow exceptions and advocate for the taking of life, then there wouldn't be an Insurgency."

Cassandra held her hands up in surrender. "Take it easy there. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into. You have to be one hundred percent behind your convictions because it's easy to be seduced by those arguments. I've seen it happen."

The Dark Knight mulled those words over. It was just another thing he'd need to examine later. There was enough that needed to be done in the present. One way or another, he'd get to the bottom of everything soon enough.

"So, mind telling me why the computer's down?" he asked.

"That's because of Cyborg. He's one of the Regime's members and he has access to all communication systems world wide. I shut it down so that he couldn't get access to it."

"Not a bright move." Seeing Cassandra frown, Batman began walking to the computer, ignoring the shuriken still embedded in the chair, and took a seat in it. Typing on the keys, he began to activate it. "You purposefully blinded yourself to its data banks and resources."

"Uh, weren't you listening? Cyborg could hack into it and reveal this location," she shot back, coming to stand next to him. She was giving off nervous energy as the monitor turned on. "I'm serious, stop booting it up."

"The computer isn't connected to any network this Cyborg would have access to," the vigilante responded. "When I set it up, I created a ghost network that siphons off access through a multitude of servers. It was meant to prevent anyone from hacking into the system, but allowed me all access. In fact, there's a program that disguises my hacks, making anyone watching think there's a subroutine activating."

"So...you're telling me you could potentially hack anything anywhere and no one would be the wiser?"

"I probably could hack this Cyborg if I wanted to, not that that's necessary." The computer finished its activation sequence then, a window opening to indicate it was ready for use.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this?" she demanded then.

"You never asked."

"I could barely talk!"

Batman gave her a look. "You were more interested in training and patrolling the city."

There was a moment of silence. "Fine, I guess I should have focused more on learning. Happy?"

A smirk appeared on his face. "Yes, yes, I am."

Cassandra muttered something under her breath, probably something unflattering. However, before they could continue their banter, an alarm went off. Both vigilante looked to the screen, Cassandra moving closer as a look of fear appeared on her face. "What's happening? What's with the alert?"

Batman began typing on the keyboard, a new window appearing. It was of Earth with several flashing dots above it. He frowned. "Several objects are entering Earth's atmosphere."

There was a sigh of relief from the dark-haired woman. "Here I thought Cyborg had found us."

Had she not been listening to him? It seemed she had traded some of her better listening traits for the ability to comprehend words. He wasn't sure if it was an adequate trade at the moment. However, as he stared at the image, he realized the number of dots was increasing. That could only mean one thing.

An invasion.

* * *

To Guest: Quite a few actually, with major repercussions on the way

To FlackAttack: I can guarantee you that this story will be impacting future ones, some small, others much larger. In general, I do believe that Batman has never stopped making countermeasures, be it in this series, or in the comic canon. It's just what he does. I do find the moral high ground an intriguing idea. It won't come up in the next story in this series since there's already a plan in place, but that doesn't preclude it in the ones following.


	16. Angels of Vengeance

So here was the deal: Ollie had gone out of his way to recover a late friend of his, delivered his body to his family, and pay his respects. Sounded pretty easy, right?

Well, it should've been that easy.

Even though Ollie and his men had been successful in taking down the guards at the park, the entire thing had been under surveillance by Cyborg. He followed them with a satellite until they arrived at their little hideout, which was a building currently seeking new management. That is to say it was just one of such properties owned by Ollie on the lowdown, this one being one of many safe houses he had in his possession.

Unfortunately, it wasn't so safe anymore. Once he had the location, Cyborg called in a team to apprehend him, or simply kill him—it could've gone either way considering the company. One moment, the five men had begun tossing back brewskies, the next the door was incinerated into flames.

The door burning was the moment Ollie had realized he had been set-upped.

"Oh, boys!" a sultry redhead called out, sauntering through the flames. She was Volcana, a pyromaniac with the power to generate fire. Talk about giving the wrong person the wrong power.

Throwing his beer aside, Ollie had his quiver back on his back and his hand on his bow. That was all before Volcana raised one of her dainty hands and fired a stream of fire. It hit Nick dead on, the man screaming as he was engulfed in flames.

Taking cover behind a couch, Ollie was wondering just where Volcana's teammate was. All of these Regime guys traveled in packs after all; this should be no different. Damn it all! Why had he risked his operation like this?

He knew the reason though. He couldn't let a friend be used for the Regime's purposes even in death. He kinda hoped the others would be like that for him; then again, that was assuming he left a corpse that wasn't cremated.

"Awww, don't hide, boys. It's just little ol' me, here to give you guys a night you won't ever forget," Volcana called out to them. So it was just her, huh? Perhaps Cyborg had given up on the Alive part in Dead or Alive. Made sense if you asked him.

So how did one deal with a walking, talking furnace? A glass of water wasn't going to cut it. Pulling out a trick arrow, one with a long green canister towards its head, Ollie notched it, took a deep breath, then spun around to face the couch, keeping himself crouched. He then stood up as quickly as he could, aiming right at Volcana. "Hey, Hotness," he called out, causing her to turn her head to look at him. By then, he released his arrow and watched it fly right at her. Volcana had barely raised a hand up to either incinerate, or protect herself when the arrow hit.

The arrowhead and canister exploded, releasing a chemical compound that soaked in heat from the air, which in turned dropped the temperature in the surrounding area until ice crystals formed. In short, a bluish-white cloud erupted all over Volcana, covering her in ice until she was an ice sculpture.

And that was how you dealt with a walking furnace. Staring at her, Ollie soon saw the three other guys slowly emerge from their respective hiding places. Cautiously, two of them, Eddie and Tommy approached her, one even reaching a hand out to touch the ice.

However, because he had been watching the frozen Volcana, the archer saw her eyes move. In fact, had it not been for the ice, he would've sworn she would have grinned evilly at that moment. "Get away!" he shouted.

Despite the ice, a redness glowed from within it before the ice shattered and a wave of flames blasted out in all directions. Eddie and Tommy took it head on, burning to blackened skeletons in an instant as they screamed.

Ollie ducked down behind the couch, only to have it rammed against him from the force of the blast. Knocked off his feet, he hit the floor, rolling over it as the couch flew over him, crashing against the wall before it dropped to the ground. The blond man ended up tumbling right into it, finally coming to a stop.

"Well that was fun," Volcana remarked, stretching her arms up above heard. "I've never been encased in ice before," she then added sarcastically. Ollie got the feeling this hadn't been her first time dealing with that very situation.

And then the last of his crew, Sam, came running at the redhead from behind, a chair in his hands. He swung the chair at her, breaking it into pieces against her back and knocking the woman off her feet. Still holding the chair legs, Sam went after her, drawing a leg back before swinging it forward.

However, even though Volcana had fallen to the floor, she had managed to keep on her feet, her legs coiled beneath her. Twisting around, she pointed a hand right at Sam and fired a brief burst of flames at him. Sam caught on fire immediately and stumbled backwards, screaming as he began twisting and turning his body in a vain attempt to put out the flames.

Ollie really wanted to shout for Sam to stop, drop, and roll, but he had his own problems at the moment. Namely, Volcana spotted him, standing up to her full height as she held both of her hands up at him. "Supes is gonna give me a fiefdom for this," she said as her hands became enshrouded by fire. "Too bad you're not going to see it."

By then, Ollie had another trick arrow in hand. Holding it out in front of him, he retorted, "Neither will you."

Flicking a switch on the canister at the arrow's end, a bright, blinding flash erupted. Even though he had his own eyes closed, the darkness beneath his eyelids went a painful red due to his proximity to the flash. Volcana shrieked as she was blinded.

However, that didn't stop her from firing a stream of fire. Above him, a blast of heat made itself known, pouring hot air all over him. Thankfully her temporary blindness caused her to miss him.

Opening his eyes, Ollie saw that not only was Volcana blind, but she was spinning back and forth, one arm pressed over her eyes as she held out her other hand. She was pouring out fire, setting the entire room ablaze.

 _Jesus, lady, burning everything wasn't the answer for everything!_

However, Ollie knew an unstable room when he saw one. The fire was burning everything it touched, which meant the support for the ceiling wouldn't last very long. He needed to get out of here. Looking at the other side of the room, he noticed it was burning from the fire.

And speaking of weakening support…

Pushing himself up onto his feet, Ollie took off running, heading right towards and to the side of Volcana. Taking hold of his bow at one end, he dropped to his knees, skidding across the floor. Holding his bow out to one side, he swung it like a baseball bat and nailed Volcana just below her knees, knocking her legs out from under her.

As his slide began to slow, the archer was back on his feet and running for the burning wall. Moving his arms out to shield his face, he leaped at the wall at the last moment, ramming into it, and bursting right through it.

Unfortunately, he didn't quite stick the landing. Though he managed to get a foot down, it suddenly jerked to a side and Ollie found himself falling to the floor, going into an unintentional roll, one that lasted until he came to a stop on his back. Yeah, could've done better with that part.

The room he was in was less cozy as the club room. This one was just a wide open, empty room, with cement flooring, walls, and ceiling. He didn't recall its purpose, but for now he was going with "better than the last one."

That was until he heard a sharp _boom._ Jerking his head to a side, what was best described as a red portal—in fact, several portals—appeared in the room. The outer rim of the portals were swirling, which left its centers to be something red, thick, and gushing.

Why was he getting the feeling that was blood?

"This just isn't your day," Ollie muttered to himself.

* * *

Being the eyes and ears of the world was an awesome thing. Some people found that to be boring, but to Cyborg, that made him indispensable. Ever since he had gotten this mechanical body, he had slowly become accustomed to it, not to mention enjoying the company of other machines.

For instance, he had a pretty good relationship with the local satellites. They gave him views of everything from a few miles above Earth and he kept giving them work. It was mutual beneficial. They even helped him track Oliver Queen down.

So that left him with a few options: one, he could report it to the High Councilor; two, he could report it to Green Lantern, or Hawkgirl; or three, he could send a team in to clean up the mess. Seeing no reason as to why Volcana couldn't handle some nutjob with a bow and arrow, he sent her in alone. While she wasn't the most loyal of the group of reformed bad guys, she did enjoy her work. She might burn the building down, but as long as Queen was part of it, then it was a job well done.

A sharp _beep_ caught his attention then. Looking the console he was at, Cyborg noticed a flashing red light. Tapping it, a window appeared on his monitor screen. At first, all he saw was the blackness of space, not something that was all that threatening. Still, he watched it for a minute or so. That beep was part of an early warning system in the Watchtower, one that picked up incoming objects that were either of massive size, or were approaching Earth at an incredible speed.

And then he saw it. There was a flash of light. Then another one, and another. Soon, there were several twinkling lights on the screen. Quickly, Cyborg had the computer calculate how big the lights were and if they would be hitting the Watchtower, or Earth.

The results came instantly. The Watchtower was definitely not in these lights' path, but Earth was. As for the size, they were small, maybe the size of a full-grown man. Well, that was nothing to worry about.

Shutting down the window, Cyborg then left the computer station, heading for a nearby window. At the very least, he'd get a nice show of whatever was approaching burning up in the atmosphere. It helped relieve the doldrums that took over the place from time to time.

It was a few minutes before he saw the first signs of the debris. Or at least, he had thought they were debris right until he saw red contrails racing by. Focusing his robotic eye on the contrails, he closed in on one and looked to its head, finding an actually person. In fact, it was definitely an alien.

And then something hit the window.

Cyborg let out a cry of surprise as he jumped backwards. Pressed against the window before him was a big, round...well, alien. More importantly, it had some pretty sharp teeth and it looked as if it were trying to gnaw on the smooth glass window. Even through the glass' thickness, he could make out gurgling sounds as small, stubby, black arms and legs thrashed about. Though, if he weren't mistaken, there were red gloves and boots too.

However, he couldn't help but notice a weird symbol on its forehead. It reminded Cyborg of Green Lantern's, but different.

And then the round alien did something rather gross: it puked up red vomit on the window. "Seriously?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Alright, he wasn't sure what this was, but it was best to report it planet-side. The others were going to have to intercept and deal with these things. It was such a good thing the Watchtower was made to resist all sorts damage to its hull.

Of course, that was when he heard sharp _booms._

Spinning around, Cyborg saw three red portals, a blood-like substance flowing out of them. Slowly, three forms emerged from the blood, three goofy characters dressed in red with the same symbol on their bodies as the round guy outside.

If he wasn't sure about the resemblance to the Lantern Corp, he was now. All three had on body suits that looked just like a Green Lantern, only red. One guy was man-like, save for the horse face, antlers, and red glowing eyes. Another was of a greenish-blue alien with an elongated head and hands with long, creepy fingers.

The last one, however, got his attention. It was of a woman and a blue one at that. Hell, her little Lantern outfit looked more like lingerie than anything. With some sort of black mask covering her head with little wings sticking out of it, not to mention the skeletal wings emerging from her back, she was like a perfect depiction of a succubus.

Not that Cyborg knew what one of those looked like…

"Victor Stone," the woman said in a sultry voice, though the fact that she knew his name sent alarms screaming in his head. "The blood of innocence is on your hands," she announced. "They demand vengeance."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, lady," Cyborg shot back as he took on a fighting stance. "But you and your two friends need to find your way off of the Watchtower, pronto. If you don't, I will escort you off personally."

"Play dumb all you want," the woman replied evenly as she took a step to him, raising a hand to caress the side of her face.

A hand that had a red ring on it.

"But that doesn't wipe away the blood spattered on your soul. I can smell it from here." She then made a throaty moan. "The blood of Ted Kord calls to me."

Immediately, Cyborg's right hand transfigured, bulking up until a large cannon was in its place. It was pure instinct, reaction, but that name did that to him. Thrusting his cannon out in front of him, he shouted, "Booyah!" as he fired a large blast at them.

* * *

"I'm telling ya, you have to send me out," Major Force pleaded, following behind Green Lantern. The two were leaving a precinct in Neo-Gotham City, one in which they had performed the quarterly inspection on.

"The situation is being handled," John said irritably. "Right now, we've got more pressing issues to deal with."

"Oh, making sure the precinct jails are up to snuff, that's _very_ important," the major snarked. "That's nothing compared to bagging Queen. You know and I know the only reason we hung out Pierce's body was to draw him out so we could track him. Cyborg has to have a location on him by now."

"Uh huh."

"You don't even have to bother coming," the man pressed. "Just send me and King Shark and we'll take him down. We don't even need Frost. C'mon! Just give the order!" He paused as he tried to plead his case. "Why are we even staying in Neo-Gotham anyways?"

"Major." John spun around with a hard look on his face. "If I wanted to send you in, I would have. Right now, I don't, so shut your trap, got it?"

Major Force glared at him, but wisely kept quiet. "You want to know why we're in Neo-Gotham?" John asked him rhetorically. "I'll tell you: bats have an affinity for this place and that's exactly what we're looking for. Now, we're going to regroup with Shayera and Shark. They should be finishing their patrol right about—"

" _Watchtower to all points! All points! I've got a situation!"_

John immediately pressed a hand against his comm link. "This is Lantern, go."

" _The Watchtower is under attack!"_ Cyborg shouted, the sound of a laser cannon in the background being fired. " _I don't know what these things are, but they look like some sort of Lantern Corps. More are entering Earth's atmosphere as we speak!"_

Immediately, John looked to the sky. All he saw was a blue sky, but a second later, he caught sight of red streaks descending through the air. His stomach dropped at the sight of them.

Red Lanterns.

"Reinforcements are on the way," John shouted into his comm before deactivating it. Clutching his ring hand, a green aura appeared around his body. Dread was actually welling up in his stomach as he watched the Red Lanterns close in.

"What are those things?" Major Force asked, a hand hovering above his eyes to block out the sunlight.

"Those things are Red Lanterns," John answered. "They're like Angels of Vengeance, powered by rage."

"Rage, huh? What brings them here?"

"I don't know, but be ready for anything. They rarely travel in packs and as you can see there's a lot of them."

Which was puzzling John to no end. There was no reason for the Red Lanterns to come here, not with these numbers. At one time maybe, but Earth was at peace now. Their arrival was way off base.

"You wanted an order," John then continued. "Well, you got one. Take out as many of those guys any way you can."

Major Force's eyes widened with joy. "You mean I can go all out?"

"Hell yeah. Because if you don't, they'll do a lot worse to you."

* * *

Batman and Cassandra stared at the computer screen, a window showing the descent of several red streaks.

What on Earth were those?

Well, whatever they were, they were going to need to be investigated. There was no telling what they were, or what they would do when they landed. Looking to Cassandra, he said, "Suit up, we're going out there."

The dark-haired woman nodded before retrieving her mask, which she had set on the computer console. Slipping it on, her mass of red hair settled down her shoulders and back, the visage of Batwoman appearing before him. That was one thing he had been meaning to ask: why the wig? It was a question that would have to wait for later though.

Turning away from the computer, Batman began to stride towards his car, Batwoman on his heels. At least, that's where they were heading when a bright light suddenly flashed before him.

Immediately, Batman had an arm over his eyes, shielding them from the light, the same with Batwoman. His other hand instinctively dropped to his belt reaching for a shuriken. Slowly, he inched his arm down so that he could see over it as the light became more bearable.

Before him, a strange symbol floated in the air. It was much like a cross, save that its top part was of a loop rather than line. If he recalled his ancient hieroglyphic class, the symbol was of an ankh.

And then he saw something within the ankh. Slowly, the form of a man began to emerge until he was hovering right before the shining symbol. A blue bodysuit was highlighted with gold, from the gloves, boots, cape, and belt. More importantly was the gold helmet the person wore, masking his face.

The ankh disappeared then, leaving the man floating in midair. "Batwoman," he greeted Cassandra, nodding in her direction before he looked to him. "Time Traveler."

"Who are you?" Batman demanded, clutching his bat-shaped shuriken tightly. "How did you get in here?"

"We have never had the honor of meeting," the man declared, slowly descending to the floor. "And for that, I apologize. I have many names on many planes of reality, but on this one I am known as Dr. Fate."

Batwoman perked her head up. "You were the one that helped Zatanna!"

"Indeed," he acknowledged with a nod. I was saddened to hear of her untimely passing."

"Why are you here?" Batman questioned then, earning himself the doctor's attention. "In case you haven't noticed, there something falling onto the planet."

"I am quite aware of what is happening," Dr. Fate answered him. "However, I am here to protect this timeline, such as it is. You will not be joining the fighting."

The Dark Knight scowled. "Like hell I won't."

Dr. Fate did not looked perturbed by his growl. "If you go out there, you will be killed. For the sake of this world and your own, you must heed this warning."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I will use force."

Talking was over. Ultimately, if they continued, it would end in a fight. With that in mind, Batman threw his shuriken at the Fate. The man responded by raising his hand and then waved it off. Appearing out of then air, a ball of light fired off in time with the doctor's gesture. The light and projectile collided with each other and Batman got to watch his metal bat disintegrate before his eyes. The moment the shuriken was gone, so was the light, leaving only a whiff of smoke floating up to the ceiling.

"If that is your decision, then face the consequences."

Dr. Fate then held his hands out in front of him, his left at chest height, palm up, the right at shoulder height, palm down. A blue light appeared between the hands until a sphere of energy appeared, it's green core spinning.

Oh great, this guy knew how to use magic.

Fate then fired the sphere, which caused both vigilantes to dart to a side, one going left and the other right. The magic sphere raced through the air until it hit the floor, a cloud of smoke and dirt blowing up at the impact site.

As she circled around their opponent, Batwoman threw her arm out, two bat-shaped shuriken flying out and towards their target.

This didn't faze Fate at all. He held his hand out, the projectiles slowed to a stop before they hovered mere inches from his palm. His fingers relaxed before they straightened out. In turn, the shuirkens flew back towards Batwoman, causing her to skid to a stop, eyes wide.

Batman saw this and he too was surprised. However, he was not going to let those projectiles hit his partner. Already having his own shuriken in hand, the dark-clad man sent them whirling through the air, watching them fly until they collided with the other projectiles. Each one clanged against each other feet away from Batwoman's face.

However, because of this, the vigilante had slowed to a stop. The ground beneath his feet suddenly began rising, throwing him off balance. Parts of the earth extended out faster, forming fingers. Realizing what was going on, Batman leaped up, his feet touching down on top of the fingers as they began to curl in. He bounced off of it, landing a short distance away.

By then, Batwoman had taken off again, managing to get behind Dr Fate. Leaping forward with one leg bent, she rammed her knee into the back of his helmet, causing him to cry out as he stumbled forward. Keeping that leg up as she touched her other foot to the ground, she then kicked out her raised foot and nailed the helmeted man in his back, pushing him even further off balance. He awkwardly took several steps as he tried to regain his balance, head and upper body leaning forward.

Seeing the opening, Batman charged in. Raising a fist, he leaped at the last moment as he threw his punch.

Then out of nowhere, Dr Fate snapped his head up, extending a hand out in front of him. A team of light emerged from his palm and Batman flew right into it, instantly stopping in midair. Stunned by this, he tried to shake the sudden paralysis off, but found his body didn't so much as twitch. He tried to jerk his arms, turn his head, move his legs, but nothing budged.

Turning his head around, the blue-clad man threw up his other hand, the same light emerging and washing over Batwoman. "That is enough out of the two of you," he declared, not the least bit put off by their confrontation. "I know you do not see this as the right thing, but you will soon come to understand."

The ankh reappeared them, glowing brilliantly behind him. Gradually it began to glow brighter and brighter until neither vigilante could see the cave anymore. It wasn't painful to their eyes surprisingly enough, but when it began to fade they were clearly not in the cave anymore.

* * *

Diana entered the daylight, adjusting her shield against her arm. Strapped to her back was her sword, a gift from Hephaestus, which had allowed her to win the day in battle many a time.

They had received Cyborg's distress call perhaps ten minutes ago. Although it was John that answered it, they had heard the entire conversation. The dark-haired woman was more than ready to deal with the situation herself.

Which brought her to the courtyard. Though the public only saw the exterior of the hall, there was a large courtyard towards it center. It was something she had insisted upon during the construction and she had found it a welcomed reminder of home. A gazebo was situated in the middle as lush flowers and plants formed a garden surrounding it. Pillars of Ancient Greek architecture were littered throughout, a couple of which were purposefully tilted to lean against other pillars at diagonal angles. For now, it was a meeting area.

Standing by the gazebo were Shazam, Raven, and Killer Frost. They had been unable to hail Enchantress, but that was no matter. If she shirked her duties, there would be a reprimand at a later time.

"The Watchtower is under attack," Diana announced to her comrades as she approached them, coming to a stop in front of the group. "Cyborg is currently the only one aboard that can fight, so he is in need of assistance."

"Do we know what's attacking?" Shazam asked, a giddiness in his voice. It appeared he was more than ready for combat. "Are they aliens? Zombies? Oh! I hope they're zombies!"

"Zombies are planet-bound phenomenon," Raven said drolly. "The Watchtower, in case you didn't know, is in space. So it's not zombies."

"What about Space Zombies?" The somber girl looked at Shazam. "What? They're zombies in space. It could happen."

"Be that as it may," Diana interrupted, attempting to stop the tangent this conversation was taking. "Our excursion is leaving the Hall of Justice without its usual number of defenders."

"Superman is more than capable of watching the place," Shazam interjected. "If whatever's attacking, they'd be stupid to attack here."

"He's right," Killer Frost agreed.

"We still have our edict," the Amazon said sternly. "Raven, I want you to stay here and make sure the Hall is adequately defended. Killer Frost and I will teleport up to the Watchtower to lend Cyborg aid." She then looked to Shazam. "Shazam, this threat will most likely strike Neo-Metropolis. They will need assistance as well, so I'm leaving the protection of the city in your hands."

"Awesome!" the young hero exclaimed.

Looking to Raven, the dark-haired woman waited for her acknowledgement. "I suppose you'll want me to lend Shazam assistance if he gets in over his head," she said.

Ignoring the indignant response from Shazam, Diana nodded. "Yes, but he should be more than enough to protect the city."

Suddenly, red portals flashed into existence. Jerking her head around, Diana saw each one at an even interval from each other, circling the courtyard. Immediately, the four heroes turned so that their backs were to each other, facing the portals. The red swirling of its rim seemed to spin at odd rates, sometimes going faster, sometimes slow. Its inner core though, appeared to be spewing a thick, red substance, which never splashed upon the grass, or sidewalk. Diana had been in many battles, but she knew what that substance was.

Blood.

That was blood flowing in and out of those portals, yet never leaving whatever it led to. What sort of magic was this?

 _With blood and rage of crimson red…_

"Guys?" Shazam spoke up. "Did you hear that?"

"I did," Raven confirmed, her black magic beginning to encompass her hands, forming black spheres.

"Somethings coming out of them!" Killer Frost reported then.

 _Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead…_

Indeed, things were emerging from the portals. They were silhouettes at first, but as the blood surrounding them pulled away, their features became known. Before Killer Frost was a creature with six eyes, their furry head the only part of them showing from beneath its red and black costume.

Diana's eyes narrowed. She knew a Lantern Corps uniform when she saw one. It wasn't too different from the Green and Yellow Lanterns she had come across. Was it possible there was a Red Corps as well?

Turning her head, she could see a couple more appearing. One was purple, humanoid in shape, yet it had one giant black eye, a small mouth with fangs protruding out from its upper and lower jaws. The other was of a blue-skinned woman, a head with flowing red hair, and what seemed to be a black domino mask covering her eyes. Unlike her comrades, her Lantern suit was a leotard, revealing her toned blue legs.

 _Together with our hellish hate…_

"Great Solomon!" Shazam swore then, earning Diana's attention. "That thing is just a floating brain!"

Turning her head, the Amazon saw what he meant. There was a literal brain with thin tentacles dangling from it.

Meh, she had seen more bizarre things.

 _We'll burn you all!_

Finally something emerged from the portal before Diana. This one seemed to be the greatest of all. Its form towered over the other Red Lanterns and that was just its silhouette. However, as it moved from its portal, it became distinct. A similar Lantern suit to its...possibly male comrades, red skin, it seemed more menacing than the others though.

Its head looked just like a monsters. Bald, sharp teeth, enraged eyes, there was no way it could be sentient.

It came to stand before the Leaguers, looking them over with an intelligence the other Lanterns didn't seem to have. It's monstrous features only served to hide this, something Diana came to realize as it opened its mouth and spoke.

"That is your fate."

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: Thanks!

To the second Guest reviewer: I see you've been keeping up with _Of Earth and Sky._ I can certainly say that these aliens are entirely different from the ones after Koriand'r. Not unless Anonymous Void decides to surprise all of us.

To Phebee: There's always hope. It all depends on what happens going forward.


	17. Blood Of The Red Lanterns

The room was something out of an Ancient Egyptian pyramid. While there weren't any hieroglyphics present, the stone and masonry was clearly not of modern design. In fact, there was a sense that this place had existed for a very long time.

And it was to one of these walls that Batman found himself restrained against. There were no chains, or no visible restraints. Instead, there was a blue aura around his body, holding him in place with his legs and arms spread out. Batwoman was in the same pose as well. Neither one was attempting to move—they had gotten that out of their respective systems a long time ago.

The reason for their imprisonment was the man with the golden helmet. He called himself Dr. Fate and his magical powers were the reason he and Batwoman were in their current predicament. The Dark Knight had thought he had been exposed to the realm of magic adequately due to his contact with Zatanna, but this man had been able to do things that she hadn't been. As far as he knew, this Fate hadn't spoken a single word, uttered an audible spell during their brief skirmish. He simply did what he wanted when he wanted to.

That was a man not to be trifled with.

Currently, Fate was standing before the two vigilantes, staring up at them. Slowly, he then raised his hands up and pressed them against either side of his helmet. He then pulled it off, revealing a man with shellacked white hair and a surprisingly youthful face. "I sincerely apologize for what is happening," he said then, his voice soft, no longer amplified by the helmet. "It was not my intent to take action against you."

"Then why have you brought us here?" Batwoman demanded, a scowl on her face. "We need to be out in the streets. People need our help."

"I'm inclined to agree," the white-haired man replied. "However, we need to look at a much larger picture here."

"And what picture would that be?" Batman questioned. He didn't like this guy, not one bit. He was already feeling edgy being held here against his will, but to be lectured about the big picture? That was galling.

"The one that centers around you," the doctor said as he moved to set his helmet on a recently-summoned table. The table hadn't been there beforehand, having emerged from the floor, despite the fact the table was made of wood instead of the stone that comprised the floor.

Freaking magic.

"As of now, this world, time, the universe has been progressing as it naturally should. However, an anomaly has appeared, one that I traced to you." At this Fate put his entire attention on the Dark Knight. "Your presence is not supposed to be here. You were killed in the Erie Explosion twenty years ago; yet, here you are. I have attempted to divine the reasoning for this, even magically investigating the site of the event in question."

"What did you find?" Batwoman asked, genuine curiosity in her tone. To be honest, so was Batman. If what he was hearing was correct, it sounded as if something had been altered. The investigator in him was beginning to catch on to this.

"There was a disruption of some sort," the white-haired man told them, sighing in exasperation. "Unfortunately, magic isn't exact so I cannot say for certain what caused it, only that something occurred that should not have."

"Yet, here I am," Batman repeated in summation. "I was purposefully brought here."

"That's a possibility, yes, but one that is unclear."

"So, what, you brought us here to make sure that he can't interfere with this world?" Batwoman inquired then.

A small, sad smile appeared on his face. "If you were to ask me that a few years ago, my answer would have been yes. As we've progressed in this world created by Mortal Gods, I've begun to question whether this is the true fate we are to be experiencing." He turned his focus to both of the vigilantes. "I have come to the conclusion that no, this is not how things are to be.

"And it is for _that_ reason I have brought you here."

"So, whatever reason I've been brought here, you intended to change that," Batman spoke then.

Fate shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you were brought here for this very reason and we are simply fulfilling it; it could also be said that your perspective is true as well. Regardless, we will do what is needed to correct what is broken."

Suddenly, Batman and Batwoman were slowly lowered towards the ground. The entire time, Fate had them magically-held midway up the wall, but for whatever reason, he was changing his mind. "If we are to succeed in this endeavor, I cannot let you get yourselves killed in the current crisis," Fate then said to them. "If either one of you were to die, it would defeat our new purpose and I will not allow that to happen."

"So we allow innocents to die in the meantime?" Batman growled back disapprovingly.

"So that we can save them all," Fate replied back, a surprisingly amount of force in his tone. "That will come to you in time. However…"

Suddenly, each vigilantes' belt unclasped themselves and they slide off of their hips. Each belt began to move towards Fate, where they slowly faded out of existence. "For now, you will resided in the Tower of Fate. You have free reign of my home, but know that there is no way back from here—not by any conventional means at your disposal. Once the current crisis has been resolved, I will return you to the Mortal Plain, where we will commence with our mission. I am also taking the liberty of disabling your suits, so do not think you can force me to return you."

The blue aura around the two then disappeared and both felt they could move on their own once again. "You better be right about this, Fate," Batwoman warned him.

The stern-looking man gazed at her before saying, "So do I."

* * *

So there Ollie was, stuck between a bunch of drooling monster alien things in front of him and an inferno behind. Yeah, he had an absolute talent in finding those between-a-rock-and-a-hard-places and cranking them up to eleven.

 _God, I know I've never been a big believer and I've done some things you most likely frown upon, but if you could see your way into just cutting me a small break, I'd be pretty thankful._

"Get back here, you Robin Hood hack!" Volcana roared as she crashed through the hole the archer had made.

 _I take it that means no._

"You're not going to get...away...from..." the redhead trailed off as she came to a stop just behind Ollie, looking at their new company. "What the hell is this?" she demanded heatedly.

The aliens in matching red uniforms put all of their attention on Volcana the moment she spoke. "Vengeance!" they shouted in unison before they charged right at her.

And subsequently him.

Ollie shoved himself onto his feet, holding his bow in front of him. There wasn't much time to get an arrow ready and he highly doubted he'd get the chance. Volcana was right with him in protecting themselves as she thrust both of her arms up and fired an intense wave of fire from her fingertips. The rushing aliens were consumed by the flames, disappearing from sight; thankfully, this room didn't catch on fire like the other one, otherwise things would be getting pretty dicey here.

And then one of the aliens burst out of the flames, completely unphased. With its red spit...saliva...whatever the hell it was drooling out of its mouth—actually, Ollie didn't want to know what it was even as it was flowing out of his mouth and onto his cheeks and chin. The worst part was that it was coming right for him.

Leaning to a side and drawing the bow back, Ollie swung it forward like a bat, aiming to clock it hard against the noggin. What he didn't expect was for the alien to duck the bow and shove right by him. In fact, he was actually pushed out of the way, causing the blond man to stumble to his left until he caught himself against the wall.

"Get away from me!" Volcana shouted as she turned a hand on the alien and fired her flames point blank at it. In fact, she hit him right on his mouth, assuredly burning his insides out as well. That's what Ollie thought would happen until the alien kept moving and then clamped its teeth onto the woman's arm, her hand in his mouth.

In fact, the bite was so strong that the alien bit Volcana's hand right off. A pained shriek rang out as Volcana stumbled backwards, clutching the bloody stump that was her left arm.

And then the other aliens descended upon her. Unphased by her flames they all jumped her, bringing her to the ground. She screamed and shrieked, arms and legs kicking.

The entire time, Ollie watched in horror as the aliens surrounded and devoured the pyro. It got worse as blood began to fly out into the air, though for some reason he believed it wasn't only Volcana's. It wasn't until he noticed a light growing from the crowd that he felt something really bad was going to happen.

Well, retreat was the greater part of valor and Ollie knew he was outclassed. While he didn't like to see people suffering, Volcana had dished out her fair share of it. There was also the issue these things could go after someone else, but he had a feeling that might not matter for much longer. See, when he referred to Volcana as a walking, talking furnace, he meant it in every conceivable fashion. If a furnace was damaged, all the heat it conducted had to go somewhere.

Are ya getting the picture here?

Running, Ollie headed for the one lone exit in the room that didn't involve backtracking through a burning room. In fact, it was the way he was looking to go had he not been cornered by these aliens. Reaching it, he shoved the door opened and dove outside of it.

As it turned out, he had made it just in time. A sudden eruption—no doubt caused by Volcana—erupted. Fire blasted out through the open doorway, intense heat washing over Ollie. Along with the door, windows were blasted open, sending melted glass everywhere.

But it didn't stop there. Though the blast was on the first floor, the windows of the second floor blew out too, followed by the third and the fourth. And then, the building began collapsing, falling in on itself as a large cloud of dirt, dust, and smoke rolled out a like a rolling tide in all directions

Covered by the smoke, Ollie held his breath for as long as he could before he couldn't hold it anymore, coughing and gagging as his lungs fought for clean air. Figuring it was the best choice he had, he held his bow out in front of him, keeping his eyes closed. He then reached for an arrow, one he knew by count and touch. Pulling it out, he notched it against his bow and then pointed up high. Firing it, he waited until he heard a distant sound, one that told him the arrow had hit pay dirt.

Clutching his hand tightly, he felt the rope in his grasp. This was his grapple arrow; when fired, it left a lovely cable behind as it flew through the air. Now, one tug was all he needed and—

Ollie felt his body pulled forward and he didn't resist it, rising into the air until clean air hit his lungs. Opening his eyes as he took in a deep breath, he saw the face of a building rushing towards him. Leaning backwards, his feet hit the building, stopping him from crashing face first into it. Seeing as he was near the top of the building, he scaled the remaining distance until he was safely on the roof.

Of course, safe was a relative term.

Looking up into the sky, Ollie felt himself freeze where he stood. Streaking through the air were these red streaks, reminding him very much like of a flying Green Lantern, only, ya know, red.

Oh, this was going to get worse before it got better.

* * *

"RRRRREEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Shayera slammed the head of her mace against the side of the head of the Red Lantern before her, seeing its neck twist at an awkward angle. However, she knew better than to think that was enough to kill this thing.

She had seen these things descending from the atmosphere...what, fifteen? Twenty minutes ago? Regardless, she had been informed over the comm link that these were Red Lanterns and they were an angry bunch. Seeing the rage literally boiling their blood was a pretty good indication of that.

However, these guys did not die easily. The first one she had thought she'd broken their neck, she found out real quick that they didn't die that easily. The enraged alien had vomited red blood at her, which had hit her arm and chest. Right now, she could still feel the heat of it against her chest while her arm had been severely burned. Whatever powers the red power ring granted its wielder, they were wildly different from the green power ring.

For instance, she had yet to see a red construct being made. Most of these Lanterns preferred attacking up close and personal. When they couldn't rip you apart with their hands, they would spit that endless supply of boiling blood out. It had made for a very unusual, yet troublesome fight.

Seeing the Red Lantern before her start to prepare itself to vomit, Shayera immediately moved to a side, spinning around her foe as it spat a spray of the blood. Electricity crackled around the head of her mace and she let out a war cry as she swung her weapon through the air. It hit the back of the Lantern's head, forcing the head forward and totally shattering the already broken vertebra in its neck. That blow seemed to be what it took for the red aura to disappear from around the alien and cause it to fall to the ground.

That's when Shayera caught sight of King Shark. Patches of his skin showed burns, indicating he had been hit more than once with the Red Lantern blood. Somehow he was still alive, probably due to his strength. In fact, he was in the midst of swinging a Red Lantern in a circle around him, holding onto one arm before he let go and sent his opponent flying into a nearby parked car. The vehicle crumpled by the impact and the Red Lantern seemed to be down, that is until it began to move.

King Shark was on the Red Lantern in an instant. Grabbing the red-glowing alien by the hair with one hand and pressing the other against its head, the shark man exposed their neck. Roaring with his mouth of sharp teeth wide open, he then bit down on the Lantern's neck and shoulder.

Then in the next second, King Shark was jerking backwards, screaming as blood and smoke poured out of his mouth. Even from where she floated, Shayera could see his lips and the area surrounding his mouth burning away. It seemed that whatever blood these Lanterns spat out didn't just boil coming out of their mouths, it was all of their blood.

Stupid shark.

Despite the fact the Red Lantern had a large bite mark that decorated his shoulder, chest, back, and neck, that didn't stop him from throwing himself at King Shark, screaming in rage as he grabbed onto the shark man's arm. With one hand on the forearm and the other gripping the shoulder, the Red Lantern pulled, even as King Shark began to swing his other fist at it. None of his blows deterred the Red Lantern, the shark man stopping his attack as he began to scream wildly.

And then King Shark's arm ripped right off of his body, a torrent of blood spraying from his tattered shoulder. If King Shark had been screaming already, he was screeching now, grabbing at his shoulder as he stumbled backwards.

The Thanagarian hissed. God, that had to hurt. Then, as if to make the scene any more gruesome, the Red Lantern began swinging the appendage at its foe, beating King Shark with his own, torn-off arm. Back and forth, the alien swung the arm, knocking the shark man's head back in forth with each blow.

Alright, that was enough.

Dropping through the air, her mace drawn back, Shayera headed straight down at the Red Lantern, swinging her mace down at the last second to slam it down right on top of her foe's head. The skull immediately caved in and blood seemed to explode out of the head any which way it could. Thankfully it didn't go up.

As the Red Lantern collapsed to the ground, Shayera turned her body right-side up in the air before she too landed. Lying on the pavement next to her was King Shark, who was looking up at her rather pitifully. Blood was pouring out of his shoulder, which started to give him a rather pale cast to his skin. Weakly, he raised his remaining hand up to her. "Help...me…"

There honestly wasn't much that could be done. King Shark needed medical attention now, not in the time it would take for her to fly him to a hospital. He would die in mid-flight.

So that only left her with two options: one, she could leave him to bleed out, or two, she could be merciful.

She raised her mace up.

King Shark's eyes widened. "No," he whispered. "No!"

The blood that spattered on Shayera next didn't burn her at all.

* * *

"Who are you?" Diana demanded, standing tall. She took a step forward, extending her arm out as she pointed the tip of her sword at the invader.

The monstrous man look a languished step towards her. "I am Atrocitus," he proclaimed, his voice harsh, filled with anger. "Leader of the Red Lantern Corps."

Perfect, another evil Lantern Corps. What was with their fascination with this planet? "What brings you to Earth, Lantern?"

"You, Diana of Themyscira."

He took another step. "Because of you, thousands cry out for vengeance. I can hear their calls and smell their blood on your hands."

"Then hear only the cries of vile souls," Diana retorted. "I may have slain my share, but it was not without justice."

"Is that what happened with Dinah Lance?"

The Amazon's eyes flared. "How dare you question my integrity!"

"One must have some to question it," he replied evenly.

Her face darkened. "This is your only chance to take your Lantern Corps and leave. Your only other choice is death."

"Geez, melodramatic much?" Shazam murmured.

Atrocitus seemed to consider those words. Then, "Ratchet."

At this, the floating brain Lantern stirred. "Veon. Antipathy. Abyssma." The one-eyed purple alien, the one with six eyes, and the blue-skinned woman all shifted respectively. "Go seek vengeance."

Simultaneously, the four Red Lanterns launched themselves at the heroes. Immediately, Diana had her shield up, just as Abyssma rammed into her, bracing her own forearm up against the shield. The force she had hit it with had shoved the Amazon back an inch or so, but it was noticeable to her. Glancing behind her, she could see Killer Frost unleashing a blast of freezing air at Antipathy, warding him off his charge. Shazam was entangled by Ratchet's tentacles and Raven had launched herself into the air, Veon giving chase.

That was all the time Diana spared as she returned her attention to her opponent. Gritting her teeth, she shoved herself forward, pushing back against Abyssma. Though she resisted, it was nothing against an Amazan's strength. Lunging forward, she leaped off the ground, which pushed the blue-skinned woman backwards. Because her legs held their ground, she began to bend backwards. Adding Diana's weight, she couldn't keep up and fell to the ground, the dark-haired woman falling on top of her.

Holding her down with her shield, Diana pulled her sword arm back, its tip ready to pierce her foe's heart. At least, she would have done so had Abyssma not managed to push the shield down enough for her to scream.

And with that scream a burst of fire fired out, causing Diana to jerk her head back. She could feel the heat from the flame, which was hotter than any fire she had felt. Not even Hephaestus' forge ran that hot. Because of this, the pressure the Amazon had on her foe lessened, which was enough for Abyssma to push up against her, using enough strength to force the dark-haired woman up above her.

The red-haired woman curled her legs up to her chest, her feet pressing up against the shield. She then extended her legs, kicking the Amazon up into the air. On any other day, Diana would've been impressed by this feat; on this day, it only annoyed her. Calling upon her powers of flight, she rushed down, thrusting her sword at her opponent.

Abyssma, however, had taken that time to swing her legs over her head, allowing her to go into the roll. Diana's sword pierced into the ground, which left her wide open for attack. Once Abyssma was on her feet, she lunged forward, slamming her fist into Diana's face. The Amazon's grip slipped from the sword's hilt as she was thrown backwards.

The red-haired woman continued her charge, screaming with rage. Stopping her unintended flight, Diana raised her shield up just in time for her foe to beginning bashing her fists on it over and over. Each hit clanged off the metal, yet still pushed her back.

There was no telling how long this would have continued, had Veon's body not crashed into Abyssma's, sending both of them to the ground. A moment later, Raven landed next to Diana, raising one of her hands up. A black dome formed over the two Lanterns, their silhouettes the only thing visible of them. One really had to focused in order to make out their faces.

"I will end this," Raven declared as the dark-haired woman lowered her shield. "Azarath Metri—"

That was as far as she got into the spell. From beneath the black dome, something hit its surface. Diana wasn't sure what, but a dot of red soon appeared on the spell's surface. The red grew slowly until an actual hole appeared, its edges lines with the red. It was almost as if acid were eating it, breaking the black magic down.

And through the hole, the two Lantern's emerged. Red blood dribbled from their mouths and down their chins.

"I...I don't know what happened," Raven stammered, her spell ending abruptly. "I've never seen anything like—"

Again, she was interrupted. Both Abyssma and Veon spewed out a torrent of blood from their mouths. Immediately, the pale sorceress summoned a black shield, the blood spattering all over it. To both women's surprise, the blood began to eat— _eat_ —through the magic shield.

"What is this?!" the Amazon exclaimed. Because both heroes' attention was on the shield, they missed the two Lanterns flanking them. Out of nowhere, the two red-glowing aliens rammed their shoulders into them, knocking the two against each other, being sandwiched by their attackers. The moment the Lanterns pulled back, they collapsed to the ground.

As a warrior born, Diana managed to fall to a knee rather suffer the insult of being left helpless on the ground; Raven wasn't as fortunate as she collapsed to the ground. Just seeing her ally lying there filled her with rage. How dare they think they could come here and cause them harm?!

With practiced ease, she threw her shield her arm out, her arm sliding through its straps, sending the shield spinning right towards Abyssma. The blue-skinned woman took it right to the chest, knocking her away. Jerking her head around, Diana put her attention on Veon, only for a pillar of black bricks to erupt from the ground beneath him, sending him flying up into the sky. There was no doubt Raven had recovered and was on the attack again.

Turning back to Abyssma, Diana saw her sword sticking out of the ground between them. "Hyyaaahhh!" she cried out as she launched herself forward, closing the distance between the two women. Reaching a hand out, she grabbed the sword hilt and pulled it out of the ground. By the time she had it in front of her, her target was tossing the shield aside.

Right in time for the Amazon sword to slide right through her chest. The force she hit her foe with backed her further through the courtyard. The red-haired woman's hands gripped onto the sword, sliding down its edge before letting go and reaching further to grab it again. Wisps of smoke trailed her hands and wafted up from the wound in her chest.

Abyssma gagged, a blob of her molten blood bubbling out of her mouth. Her movements slowed and then went still, the light in her eyes fading away.

With a jerk of her arm, Diana removed her sword, turning to face Atrocitus. "Come down here, coward," she demanded. "Your minion is dead and the rest will follow soon. But before then, I will make you taste my blade."

She half-expected an answer worthy of such cowardice from the Red Lantern Leader. He hadn't raised a hand to assist his followers and he seemed disinterested in the fighting. To Diana, that meant he was not a warrior and preferred others did his bidding. He was like any other despot that had infected this planet.

She had overthrown many of those dictators.

Atrocitus stared at her before he fully turned to face her. "Very well, Amazon. Know this day you _will_ burn in the fires of damnation."

She had heard enough. She charged at the Lantern, sword arm drawn back and ready to kill. Atrocitus didn't budge as she closed in on him—the fool. At the last second, she thrust her sword before her.

Only for Atrocitus' red aura to glow brightly. The moment the sword touched it, its point jerked to aside, scraping its edge against it as it was deflected. Before she could even blink, the Red Lantern threw an arm out, batting aside the Amazon's sword arm, just before his other fist slammed right into her face.

Diana had gotten a good grasp of a Red Lantern's strength when Abyssma battered her shield. Atrocitus' fist was beyond that. The force she had been hit with sent her flying backwards so fast that she was unable to stop herself as she plowed through the small columns of the gazebo. They crumbled against her back, causing the gazebo roof to dropped to the ground as she continued to careen through the air until she finally hit the wall lining the courtyard.

Diana shook her head. She had been hit harder than that, but it had been quite some time since someone had hit her with that amount of force. In fact, Kal was the only one that could land a blow powerful enough to daze her now.

This man was not like Kal.

Ignoring Shazam still struggling with Rachet—both of his hands literally holding off tentacles before his face—and Killer Frost being pushed back by a torrent of blood from Antipathy despite the ice she formed in front of her to hold it off, Diana pushed herself back onto her feet and once again launched herself towards Atrocitus. Hands balled into fist, she made her intentions known as to what she planned to do as she raced towards her foe.

Atrocitus crossed his arms in front of him, just as Diana's first blow was thrown. Her fist hit his outer arm, which she then followed with her other fist. Moving her arms back and forth, she rained a flurry of punches, each blow pushing Atrocitus backwards as his feet dragged through the grass and dirt. He could not withstand her fury; he would fall.

"Feel your anger," the Red Lantern beckoned then. "Give in to it. The more rage you feel, the stronger I become."

For a moment, the Amazon hesitated. Those words, they had struck her like a slap to her face. If she remembered what John had told her about the Yellow Lantern ring, it was powered not only of fear by its user, but the fear of others. Was the Red Lantern ring just like that? Did it feed off of the rage of others?

Her hesitation cost her. Shooting one of his arms out, his hand grabbed her by the throat, the pressure he was applying immediately began to suffocate her. Gasping, Diana reached to her captor's wrist with both hands in an attempt to dislodge it.

Except, Atrocitus had other plans. Letting out a yell, he spewed his boiling blood out all over her face, the viscous fluid pouring down her face, neck, and bosom.

 _Great Athena!_ her mind shrieked. The blood! It burned! She could feel her face blistering beneath it, causing her to cry out, even as Atrocitus released his hold and let her drop to her knees. Her hands were frantic to whip the blood away from her her eyes and face, which left her wide open to the kick Atrocitus landed, which sent her careening to her left. Once more, she hit the wall surrounding the courtyard, but this time she dropped to the ground.

Though she had lost her breath, Diana managed to clear her eyes so that she could see her foe approach her. Though Atrocitus had turned to face her, a figure dropping from the sky stopped him, causing him to pull back a step. However, he was too slow as he let out a hiss, the form of Raven landing before him. In her hands were black swords, thin and short, but effective enough to have cut the red brute's wrist.

"Daughter of Trigon," Atrocitus acknowledge her, not even a shred of anger in his tone. Why was he so calm? It stood in stark contrast to the other Red Lanterns, baffling the Amazon. "You will rue the day you interfered."

"Perhaps some other day," Raven retorted as she straightened out her stance, keeping one of her blades low and behind her, the other up and in front. "But it won't be today. You can ask that lackey of yours; he's currently regretting the Hell I've sent him to."

The Red Lantern narrowed his eyes. "We'll see."

Atrocitus didn't move, grasping his hurt hand as his blood trickled down his fingers from the wound. Seeing this, Raven launched her attack, twirling around as she closed the distance between them, and lashed out with her magically-created swords. In turn, Atrocitus backed away, dodging the slashes.

This didn't stop Raven. Stopping her spinning as she faced her opponent, she began cutting at him over and over, alternated between her swords as she slashed at the air in front of her. Atrocitus moved another step back initially, but then he dove towards the girl. Surprisingly, he moved to her left, passing by her as he went into a roll. Raven tried to cut him as he passed, but failed as he moved by unharmed.

The Red Lantern ended up on his feet, his uninjured side towards Raven. This left his injured side to Diana, which is why she was the one to see what Atrocitus was up to. Using the bulk of his body, he shielded his right hand from sight, even as blood seemed to pour out of his wrist wound with at an alarming rate. But then, the blood began to crystalize around the hand, forming a long, red claw.

Unbeknownst to this, Raven charged at her foe, one arm drawn up, holding one of her swords by her head, the other held out in front of her. Realizing what was happening, Diana cried out, "Raven, no!"

Only for her words to come out an instant too late. With surprising quickness, Atrocitus swung his blood claw forward, its tip hitting Raven right in the chest. It slid right through her until it emerged out her back, leaving the girl stunned, a sharp gasp escaping her mouth.

Slowly, the magical swords faded away, Raven hanging limply from Atrocitus' elongated finger as he raised her higher into the air. "Together with our hellish hate!" the Red Lantern bellowed as he drew a fist back. The outburst was so sudden that it reminded Diana of a man she once met. He had a cool anger about himself, one he stored within himself before unleashing it in one great outburst.

Was this the rage of Atrocitus?

He then threw the punch, ramming it into Raven, which sent her flying off of the blood claw, her body sailing through the air until she collided with one of the large marble columns. Due to the force she had been hit with, her body sank into the rock, keeping her there.

Atrocitus then pulled his arms back to his sides, the symbol of Rage on his chest glowing brightly. "We'll burn you all!" he roared as red light erupted from his chest.

It was then that Diana saw the first red construct of this Lantern Corps. A large, rage-filled boar appeared in the light, rapidly galloping forward as it charged towards Raven. The girl was helpless against the column as it rammed headfirst into her, causing the column to shatter into pieces as she was knocked through it.

As she collapsed to the ground, surrounded by the column's debris, the red construct faded away, leaving only smoke and dust swirling in its wake. When one cloud of smoke passed by Diana's vision, she saw Atrocitus was upon Raven, floating in the air above her. Gone was the anger in his voice as he calmly said, "That is your fate."

Then flames fires out of his mouth, pouring down on the helpless Raven. She screamed even as her skin blackened, her body awash by the deadly fire.

And Diana was helpless as she watched on.

* * *

Atrocitus' attack on Raven is based off of his ultimate attack in the Injustice 2 game. I've rather liked that one and immediately had ideas on how to use it when I decided on using the Red Lantern Corps for this story.

Originally, I had envisioned this big battle full of red constructs against the Regime...that is until I did my research on them. Much to my surprise, I found out only a small handful had the ability to use constructs while the large majority were more like enraged zombies than an army of fighters. That definitely changed how the battle would go, I feel, for the better, though.

To the first Guest reviewer: If you're going off of the cartoon, Batman is more than likely one of the oldest members. BTAS started with him well into his career as Batman; I believe the Phantasm movie said he had been at it for ten years if I'm not mistaken. The brainwashing is an interesting idea, though.

To the second Guest reviewer: I don't think you could say the Red Lanterns have good intentions lol. They're wildcards if anything, their only mission being to exact revenge. Though I do appreciate the comparison to Injustice 2.


	18. Unstoppable Fury

Pouring his will into his ring, the green light covered the area in front of John, forming men in military combat fatigues. Each man had a standard issue assault rifle and were aiming it to the front. Before the Lantern and his constructs, a hoard of Red Lanterns were charging, snarling and bellowing with madness.

"Fire!" John shouted.

The constructs' guns fired, sending a barrage of green gunfire at their approaching targets. Multiple Red Lanterns ran into the storm of bullets, a few going down from the first hits while others willed themselves forward. They didn't last much longer as the torrent of bullets ripped through them and left them bloody corpses on the ground.

Major Force appeared at John's six, arms raised in front of him as he unleashed a nuclear blast at another Red Lantern. "Yeehaa!" the man cried out with zeal, changing his tactic from one big blast to multiple smaller ones. Though he was a crazy son of a bitch, he had spot on accuracy as his blasts hit their targets, blowing them away, or taking them down for the count. "Get some! Get some!"

That was when he heard multiple enraged snarls. Looking up, John saw three—no, four Red Lanterns flying down from the sky, trying for an aerial attack. Seeing that his soldier constructs had effectively dealt with the initial wave of Red Lanterns, the Green Lantern allowed them to deconstruct, the green energy returning to his ring before he aimed it up above his and Major Force's heads. Firing a beam, it stopped several feet up before expanding out in all directions, forming a dome-like shield around them.

The Red Lanterns rammed into it moments later, using their whole bodies to do so. A couple pressed their hands against the green construct and held themselves up as they screamed with rage. The other two seemed more content on squirming around on it.

"Open it up, Lantern!" Major Force shouted. The man held his hands in front of his chest, one arm above the other, the palms of his hands facing each other. Between them, an orange, glowing ball of energy formed, ready to be unleashed.

"Get ready," John told him as he returned his attention to the shield. He was going to time this—

—right. Before he could think further, the Red Lanterns spat their boiling blood onto the construct. Normally this wouldn't have fazed John, except for the fact he saw the blood eating through his shield. In fact, he could feel the will he projected into it weakening through his ring and arm. Oh great, these guys could deconstruct constructs with their spit. Fantastic.

"Now!" he shouted as he stopped his will, and subsequently his shield. Major Force, in turn, thrust his glowing orb in front of him and fired a rather large atomic blast, each Red Lantern being consumed by it. By the time the beam ended, none of them were left to be a threat.

Despite this, John was frowning. They had been fighting this Lantern Corps for some time, but he had yet to see one of them actually make a construct like him. Part of him wondered if they could even do that, or they could and just didn't think about it. Regardless, it was one avenue of attack he hadn't had to worry about.

Suddenly, a hand burst out of the pavement by his foot, grabbing the Green Lantern by his ankle. Jerking his head to it in surprise, John had his Lantern ring pointed at the ground even as the Red Lantern forced its way through the street, snarling the entire time.

As John willed a green blast to fire from his ring, the Red Lantern pulled up on his leg, throwing his balance off as he ended up firing his beam up into the air harmlessly. Suddenly, he was pulled to a side, swung around in a circle until he crashed right into Major Force. It was only then that he felt the hand on his leg release him and the two heroes were sent flying away, landing on the ground several feet away. Major Force took the brunt of the crash since he was on the bottom, which left John to go rolling off of him and then over the pavement until he came to a stop.

"Watch what you're—" the Major began to shout when he noticed a shadow growing all over him. Turning onto his back, he got his arms up just in time to stop a Red Lantern from taking a big bite out of him. Even from where he was lying, John could see the strain Major Force was under as his hands pressed on either side of the alien's head, holding his blood-thirsty foe above him.

That all changed when the Red Lantern spat out blood onto the red-and-yellow man. Immediately, Major Force screamed out as he was burned. Shaking off his daze, John thrust his ring hand out in front of him and fired a green beam, blasting the Red Lantern off of his compatriot.

Unfortunately, the enraged Lantern didn't go far, merely being shoved several feet away. By then, another Red Lantern was at its side, the two menacingly approaching them.

"No...No!" Major Force cried out then. "My suit! It's damaged!"

Turning his attention to the Major, the Green Lantern saw orange light pouring out of the man, right where the boiling blood had burned a hole into him. Even as he got up into a kneeling stance, John could feel this was not a good thing.

Major Force turned onto his side as he looked pleadingly at the Green Lantern. "Ya gotta help me! I can't hold all of this energy in with my suit damaged! I could take out the entire city!"

No, no he wouldn't. John had his ring aimed in front of him again, firing another green beam. Like the shield previously, the beam stopped a short distance between him and Major Force before moving out in all directions. Soon, a dome was formed around Major Force and the two Red Lanterns.

"What are you doing?!" the Major cried out.

"What needs to be done," the Green Lantern replied coolly. He then raised his arm up, lifting up the dome into the air. Cracks appeared throughout the street before a chunk of it was ripped out from the ground, having been attached to the construct. A mound of dirt with pipes sticking out of it appeared as he raised the piece of street higher into the air. Rising to his legs, John began to float into the air with the dome before he turned around, drawing his arm back behind his head, then throwing it forward. In response, the dome was thrown up into the sky, careening towards the atmosphere. Silently, the Green Lantern hoped he had been fast enough.

Several seconds passed by before an incredible explosion lit up the sky. The sound of thunder rang out an instant later, a slight tremor shaking the city around him. Some of the windows in the buildings cracked, if not shattered right out, but for the most part, the collateral damage was minimal.

The same couldn't be said for Major Force.

* * *

Shazam was numb.

Part of that was from the tentacles of the floating brain he was wrestling with. It seemed it had some paralytic agent on its appendages and he could feel his body losing sensation in his chest, arms, and legs. That wasn't a good thing considering it was trying to press its body against his face. He had no idea what it was ultimately trying to do, but he had images in his head of an alien offspring bursting out of his chest.

The other part was seeing the Red Lantern Leader standing over the burst husk that had been Raven. There was no telling what was left of her other than ash and maybe some bone. He could smell the scent of burnt flesh in his nose.

All of this only served to enrage him.

Looking to Ratchet, he bared his teeth as he continued to struggle against it, unable to feel the strain in his arms thanks to the numbness that had set in. First thing was first, he needed to deal with this. Eyes looking up to the sky, he then called out, "Shazam!"

There was the boom of thunder, followed by a bolt of lightning streaking downward from the sky. Leaning backwards, Shazam put Ratchet in between him and the electrical bolt. An instant later, the lightning struck.

Ratchet let out some ungodly scream, though there was no mouth he could see that it came from. He did see its cartilage skeleton flicker as its body was zapped. "Shazam!" he called out again.

Just as the first lightning bolt ended, a second one struck. This time, the smell of burnt brains filled his nostrils and Ratchet's tentacles loosened around him. Tossing the brain aside, keeping an eye on it long enough to see it make a sickening wet splat on the ground, Shazam then turned to face Atrocitus, launching himself from the ground and flying right towards him.

No way was he going to let that alien get away with killing Raven.

The distance between them shrank in an instant. With a fist drawn back, Shazam slammed it right into the side of Atrocitus' face, causing his head to snap to a side. Seeing the Red Lantern wide open, Shazam sent a flurry of punches at him, battering his body with blow after blow after blow. Atrocitus' body and limbs jerked about after each hit landed.

Then, as he tired of this repetitious onslaught, Shazam leaped up into the air and threw a fist down, nailing Atrocitus across the crown of his head. This blow sent the evil alien face first into the ground, causing the earth to crack and splinter from the impact.

 _Alright, time for the final blow._ Raising his other hand, Shazam summoned the magical electricity that granted him his power, bolts of lightning dancing all over his fingers and palm. He then moved it to aim it right at Atrocitus.

And then his vision was blinded by something dark and...furry? Little knives pierced into the sides of his face as Shazam found he couldn't breath. Losing his focus, the electricity around his hand faded away as he grabbed at the small body that was trying to suffocate him, his cry of surprise muffled.

Pulling on it, he soon felt cool air touch his face, followed by the knives pulling out of his cheeks. Shazam's eyes widened as he caught sight of a cat, some fat house cat, in his hands. Yet, the Red Lantern suit and symbol on it indicated it was anything but.

As if to prove that point, the cat hissed before spitting out boiling blood onto his face. The dark-haired man cried out as he tossed the cat away, his hands rubbing at his face as he tried to clean off the burning, acidic fluid. Managing to clear his eyes, he saw the Red Lantern cat floating in midair, its tail sticking straight up behind it, ears pinned to the back of its head as it continued to hiss at him. Then from the tail, a ball of red light formed before being fired right at him. It wasn't all that strong, but it did strike him in his sensitive face, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

Then, out of nowhere, a powerful hand wrapped around his throat. Eyes widening as he gagged, he saw Atrocitus standing before him, raising him up from his grip around his neck until the red-clad hero's feet were no longer touching the ground.

"I see you've met Dex-starr," Atrocitus said coolly. "Don't be too surprise, even animals can feel rage. In fact, Dex-starr comes from this very planet."

The Red Lantern's grip tightened, the only sign he got before he was pulled to a side and then sent flying through the air. Shazam didn't stop flying until his back crashed into the remains of the gazebo, being propped up by the fallen roof's shingles. Coughing, he tried to catch his breath even as Atrocitus and his pet cat approached him.

"Do you... _cough..._ have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" he demanded as he glared up at the two. "How can _a cat_ feel anger?"

"The better question is how can he not?" the Red Lantern countered as he came to stand before the hero. "As Dex-starr put it, his owner was killed during a battle on this planet. Watching as the murderer cheered their victory over his owner's broken body could fill anyone with rage. His fury was so great, he was presented with a red ring and he took it."

Atrocitus then knelt down in front of him. "How else do you think we found out about your little regime?"

All of this bloodshed, all of this evil was because of a cat? _A cat?!_ Shazam couldn't wrap his head around it. So caught up was he in his thoughts, he was only brought out of them as Atrocitus held up his blood clawed hand between them, the same one that had been used to murder Raven not too long ago. Cracks began to grow on it before it burst apart, revealing his hand as a fist. "Now, Billy Batson, you will burn—as is your fate."

That was when a cool blast of air hit the two. Well, mostly Atrocitus, but Shazam felt it due to his proximity. Immediately, the Red Lantern shot up to his feet, even as his movements were slowing down. Ice crystals began to form all over his body, growing larger and joining with the other crystals. Finally, he came to a stop, encased inside of ice as his body was twisted to a side.

Following Atrocitus' eyes, he found Killer Frost nearby, holding both hands up. "About time someone put that mouth of his on ice," she quipped. Shazam was willing to ignore the cheesiness of it all since she had saved his life.

"What happened to your guy?" he asked as he slowly got onto his feet, using the gazebo roof to steady himself.

"In a thousand pieces," she answered him, jabbing a thumb behind her. Looking over her shoulder, he saw her Red Lantern was also in ice, though unlike Atrocitus' ice statue, it was lying on the ground in a hundred frozen pieces. Apparently Killer Frost had frozen it and pushed it over.

That was definitely one way to take someone out.

"Now then," Killer Frost continued as she turned her attention to Atrocitus. "Let's finish this."

* * *

Where was his goddamn backup already?!

Cyborg yelled as he fired another blast from his blaster arm, watching with frustration as the three Red Lanterns dodged it pulsing beam, one to the left, one to the right, and one above.

The monitor room was a mess. A lot of that had to do with all the misses Cyborg had suffered as he tried to take on his enemies. There were scorch marks on the floor and walls—even a few holes in the walls as well—the computer station was damaged, and the window was cracked, though thankfully it would not break in spite of that. If that disgusting blood stuff these guys spewed out couldn't eat through it, then an explosion wouldn't cause it to break.

Thank God Almighty for whoever had made this place.

Streaking through the air was Bleez, the woman Lantern. She screamed like a harpy as she charged for his head, which caused the mechanical man to dive into a roll to avoid. By the time he was on his feet, the goat-headed Skallox rammed his shoulder into him, sending the cyborg careening through the air. Because he was so low to the floor though, he ended up bouncing across it until he came to a stop.

Looking up, Cyborg caught sight of the bluish-green alien rushing towards him—sorry, he didn't catch that guy's name, all of these Red Lantern dudes had some crazy-sounding names. Re-configuring his blaster, he aimed it right at the alien and fired a concentrated burst of sound frequency.

That was the description of it anyways; to say what it actually was was very technical and his human side really didn't care to get into it. In his mind, it was what he called a hypersonic pulse cannon and its effects were very awesome.

From the cannon's barrel, fluctuation in the air created a ripple. The ripple fired out and hit the charging Lantern, stopping him in his tracks while throwing him back the other way. There was a neat shriek as well, one his cybernetic programming suppressed in both his human ear and mechanical one for his benefit. For the other two Red Lanterns, however, the hypersonic sound caused them to stop in their tracks as they clutched at their ears.

Seeing his opening, Cyborg aimed his cannon towards Bleez as she somehow remained floating in midair. Recalibrating the cannon, a grapple claw fired out, flying right by the woman and piercing into the ceiling. With the cable extending out of his arm going taut, he then retracted it and went flying up into the air. Leaning backwards as he brought his knee up, he rammed his knee into Bleez's exposed stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. His momentum carried the two up to the ceiling, where the blue-skinned woman collided with it. Disengaging his grapple, Cyborg began to drop to the floor, but not before grabbing Bleez by one of her ankles, dragging her down through the air towards the floor. Swinging his arm down, he slammed her down on the ground just as he landed, causing a huge dent to form at the impact site.

Recalling his blaster arm, Cyborg crossed it over his chest, aiming it right for Skallox. Firing a blast, he caught the dazed alien by surprise, the beam hitting him and picking him right off the floor, carrying him through the air until he crashed right into the ruined computer station. Sparks exploded into the air as electricity crackled over the station.

Unfortunately, this took the cyborg's attention away from the blue-skinned woman. Though he was still holding her leg, she used the power of her ring to float off the ground and brought herself closer to him. Keeping her free leg extend as it moved between his legs, she then kicked up with it, nailing him right in the groin.

Cyborg let out a cry as he stumbled backwards, letting go of the Red Lantern as he clutched at his groin with his hand. Though he didn't have a certain piece of anatomy there, that area was still quite sensitive. "Low blow, bitch," he growled as he glared at her.

"Does that make you angry?" Bleez taunted him as she maneuvered herself to standing upright, albeit still floating.

"Yeah," he responded as he drew his blaster back. It began to recalibrate again, this time forming an enlarged version of his arm and hand. It was almost ridiculously large in comparison to his usual body.

Then he threw the giant fist forward, slamming it into Bleez and sending her flying across the room and into the wall. "It does make me angry," he finished, keeping his arm stretched out in front of him.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caused Cyborg to jerk his head to look, finding the blue-green alien hovering in the air in front of him. Seeing it open its mouth, the mechanical man widened his human eye as he flung his normal-sized arm up, activating a plasma shield protocol, which caused a round, light blue light to form from his forearm. A moment later and the Red Lantern fired a burst of intense fire from its mouth, which hit the shield. Cyborg watched as the light blue became white from where the shield was hit, the white slowly spreading out towards the edges of the energy shield.

That was when Skallox appeared on the opposite side of Cyborg, grabbing onto his giant arm. His fingers pierced into the metal armor, then with incredible strength, ripped it off, revealing the inner workings of the arm.

Cyborg cried out in pain, even as Skallox continued to rip more and more of the armor off the arm. Even worse, because of the damage, his arm was stuck in that shape, unable to change to another form. And with both of his arms otherwise occupied—by being damaged and protecting himself from napalm-level fire, he was wide open for Bleez to come flying across the room feet first, feet that rammed right into his open stomach and sent him flying backwards. He continued to scream until his back hit the window, causing even more cracks to spider out from where he hit it.

Suddenly, he wasn't so sure if the window would hold.

Footsteps reached his ears then, causing the cyborg to look up. All three Red Lanterns were walking towards him with Bleez at the center. "You're finished, metal man," she declared as she came to a stop in front of him. "Vengeance will be had."

Cyborg scowled at her. "Bite me."

"Oh, I will."

Bleez revealed her teeth then, large fangs extending from her incisors. "Since most of you is metal, I'll eat off the only part of you that has meat. I've always been curious about dark meat."

"Trust me, honey, dark meat is overrated."

Cyborg and the Red Lanterns jerked their heads to a side. Standing a distance away was Enchantress, her hands on her hips, an amused look on her face. "Cyborg, you look wrecked," she remarked then.

"No thanks to you," he retorted. "Now get your butt in gear and—"

Enchantress held a finger up to her lips. "Shush," she said and Cyborg found his lips stopped moving. "You talk too much trash, ya know? It really kills my mojo sometimes." She then looked to the Red Lanterns, moving her hands up and in front of her, magical energies beginning to encompass them. "So, tell me, who wants revenge on me?"

* * *

Diana picked up her shield, absentmindedly sliding it back onto her arm. Looking out to the ruined courtyard, she could see Shazam and Killer Frost milling about the frozen statue of Atrocitus. Warily, she searched for Dex-starr, but the cat had seemingly vanished in the confusion of the battle. That didn't mean it wasn't nearby, waiting for the right moment to strike, as was a cat's nature.

"So how are we supposed to finish him?" Shazam asked, his voice carrying over to the Amazonian Princess. She had heard the two conversating, but she hadn't listened to what they were saying. Apparently, they had been discussing what to do with Frost's ice sculpture.

"Easy," the icy woman replied. "We just knock him over and watch him break apart like his friend."

That wasn't too bad of an idea. Honestly, the monster deserved worse, especially after what he did to Raven.

 _Raven…_

Diana looked to where the poor girl laid. She could still make out her body, though there wasn't much left of it. The skin and muscle had been burned clear off her bones where Atrocitus' fire had hit her. Her skull was blackened from the flames, forever petrified in pain. The only thing left of her costume was her cape and perhaps a shred or two of her body suit.

The very sight boiled the blood in her veins.

A feeling ran down Diana's spine then. For some reason, she found herself looking towards the frozen Atrocitus. She could've sworn she felt...something coming from it. In fact, that feeling had started the moment she felt anger from Raven's corpse.

Wait, anger?!

Killer Frost had moved right in front of the frozen alien, raising her arms up to push him over. Before she even touched the ice, there was a flash of red from within it, causing her to hesitate.

Against all logic, Atrocitus moved. It was as if the ice were a second skin to him rather than a prison. His hand wrapped around Killer Frost's neck, lifting the startled woman up into the air as she grabbed at his wrist.

The ice shattered then, shooting shards in every which direction, a roaring red aura enveloping the enraged Atrocitus. "Ice can't hold my rage, ice witch," he proclaimed.

"No!" Shazam shouted as he lunged at the monster. In response, Atrocitus twisted his body, holding out a fist towards the charging youth. The ring on his finger glowed red and once Shazam drew near, a red pulse erupted. Whatever force was behind it, Diana wasn't sure, but it was enough to send the red-clad hero flying back into the wreckage of the gazebo.

Atrocitus returned his attention to Frost. "And now your retribution."

He didn't do anything, only stood there with Killer Frost frantically scratching and grabbing at his arm. In one's mind, Diana would have been able to attack the Red Lantern before he harmed Killer Frost any further. However, in reality, only a second passed before there was a loud _SNAP!_ Killer Frost stopped her thrashing, going very still before her arms fell to her side. With a casual swing of his arm, Atrocitus tossed Killer Frost to a side, her limp body landing on the ground with a dull thud, her broken neck causing her head to tilt at an unnatural angle.

Though that all had taken place in a second, that still hadn't stopped Diana from moving. She had leaned forward, legs bending as she prepared to launch herself forward. By the time Killer Frost's body had landed, fury was screaming in the dark-haired woman's ears as she charged forward, her shield in front of her leading the charge.

Suddenly, Atrocitus whipped around to face her, throwing his arms out to either side of him. He roared with unbridled rage as his eyes glowed a brilliant red. In fact, the very air around him ignited with his aura. An unseen force slammed into Diana's shield, stopping her charge as she suddenly found her feet digging into the ground as she was pushed back. She could feel heat emanating from her shield as it began to glow orange, then red.

As sudden as it began, it stopped. Diana ended her skidding, watching as her shield faded from the glowing red to the duller orange, and then the shield's original dull color.

"I can feel it," Atrocitus said then, drawing her attention to him. "Your anger is boiling. It grows stronger with every passing second. I would be inclined to give you a ring were it not for the calls of vengeance."

"And what of you?!" Diana demanded. "Look at the pain and suffering around you! That _you_ caused! Whatever twisted sense of justice you believe you are committing, you are only instigating more! I demand vengeance! Vengeance for my fallen comrades!"

"That you do," the Red Lantern admitted. "It is like sweet music to my ears. Yet, your cries are drowned out by the pain and suffering _you_ have caused. By the power of my ring, I will ensure that those calls are answered. You will die this day, Amazon, or your entire world will burn!"

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: Sorry you feel that way. I'm not sure what you mean without purpose, but I can guarantee you there is one.

To the second Guest reviewer: There's sure to be more collateral damage to come, be it infrastructure or bodies.


	19. Dying Embers Of Wrath

Someone had once told Diana that her temper was one of her worst traits. Well, make that two people. The first had been her mother and she had said it with tender and care, a tender reprimand to subtly change her ways.

The second person had been more blunt in his observation.

So it was with her late-friend's words in mind that Diana fought to control her temper. This fight was not one to let her natural inclinations to take over. She needed to be calm, collected, and, most of all, serene. A Red Lantern fed off of rage, which increased their power. Inversely, suppressing rage would weaken them.

Or so she hoped.

"Shazam!" she called out to her comrade. "Control your anger! It only makes him stronger!"

Shazam perked up at that. It seemed he understood her words. "Be nice, got it!" Okay, perhaps not.

Slipping her arm through the shield's straps, her hand grabbed onto the last one, allowing her to hold on as she pulled her arm back. Swinging it forward, she threw her shield at her foe, watching it spin its way through the air.

Atrocitus saw it coming though, and raised a hand, catching the shield with ease. Holding it up so that its face was towards Diana, the Red Lantern placed his other hand beneath it, then began to apply pressure. Slowly, the shield began to bend and crumple, the iron it was composed of screeching in protest until it was nothing more than twisted metal.

"Nice try," he told her as he tossed it away. "But ultimately—"

He went silent then as his teeth clenched. Electricity danced all over his body, causing him to stiffen under its electrical impulse. Staring with wide eyes, the Amazon sought out the source of the electricity, finding Shazam holding a hand out in front of him, a bolt of his magical lightning stretching out between him and Atrocitus. "Wonder Woman! I got him!" he yelled to her.

Diana didn't need another word. Somehow Shazam had summoned the power to restrain Atrocitus with his magic and seeing how the brute wasn't breaking through it, it was working. Immediately, the Amazon charged at her captive foe, drawing a fist back as she prepared to throw it.

When she reached striking distance, she swung the punch, nailing the Red Lantern in the face, snapping his head to a side. Even then, the red alien couldn't budge against Shazam's magic. Seeing this, Diana launched a barrage of blows, slamming her fists over and over into Atrocitus' face, chest, and abdomen. She did not relent, even as she began to feel her fingers and knuckles protest against the strain they were going under.

Even though his teeth were clenched, the electricity was not enough to keep them that way as Atrocitus forced his mouth open. "Enough!" the Red Lantern bellowed, his seized muscles seeming to bulge against the restraining electricity. Then, through pure will—no, pure rage—alone, Atrocitus broke out of the magic, his arms swinging out from his body, the lightning bolt dissipating between him and Shazam.

That didn't stop Diana from continuing her assault. As she threw another punch, it landed hard against the left side of Atrocitus' chest, causing him to flinch away from the blow. She landed another one to the opposite side of his chest, causing the monster to back away a step.

However, when she threw her right fist, Atrocitus shot his right hand up and caught it, holding on tightly to it. Undeterred, the Amazon threw her other one, only for her left to be caught as well. Atrocitus didn't hesitate as he pulled his left and right hands in opposite directions, which in turned crossed Diana's arms in front of her. With his head tilted back, Atrocitus then threw it forward, his forehead colliding with hers and causing an explosion of stars in front of her eyes.

The next thing she knew, she was being swung in the air, the Red Lantern spinning her around in a circle. Diana wasn't sure what the reason for this was, not until she felt her lower body hit something solid. Though confusion settled in her mind, she didn't have time to ponder it as she suddenly felt Atrocitus let go of her, and the Amazon went sailing through the air. She felt her back crash into one of the remaining marble pillars, bursting right through it. The impact killed her momentum though, and the dark-haired woman found herself falling to the ground soon after.

Wincing, Diana fought off the daze she was under. Now was not a good time for such; in fact, the sound of Shazam's screams reinforced that notion. Forcing herself up, first into an awkward pose of her feet and hand on the ground, butt up in the air, then up completely on her feet.

By then, she saw Shazam crash into a wall surrounding the courtyard. She wasn't sure what happened, but she had no doubt it had been something Atrocitus had done. She made to go after him, only to realize she wasn't quite in the best shape to do so, stumbling a step forward.

 _No, not like this…_

"You are running out of reserves," Atrocitus commented as he stared at the crumpled form of Shazam, then setting his sights on the Amazon. "This battle is over for you."

"It will never be over," she shot back heatedly. "Not while there is still breath in my body."

"Then I will crush it out of you."

"How about not?"

Diana's head perked up at that before she looked towards the very doors she had used to enter the courtyard. There, standing before the now open doors was Kal-el, looking untouched in his black and white uniform.

Yet, he wasn't alone. Seeing as he had all of the attention on him, the Kryptonian raised his hand up, Dex-starr held by his neck in the man's grasp. The cat meowed almost pitifully.

"I've had just about enough of you picking on my friends," Kal stated then. "If you want to continue this fight, then I'll be your opponent."

Then, with a quick squeeze, Kal crushed Dex-starr's neck, breaking, no shattering the spinal cord. The cat had let out a high-pitched shriek before going limp in the dark-haired man's hand. Just like Atrocitus had done with Killer Frost, Kal tossed Dex-starr's body away, letting it fall to the ground in a heap.

"I hope you're ready."

* * *

It was strange watching magic in action. For Cyborg, he had two different eyes. His human eye watched the spectacle of Enchantress holding her hands above her head, a large fireball between them, then hurling it at Bleez. To his mechanical eye, he saw what was best described as a distortion. There was no fire to be seen, but there was definitely something affecting the space around her hands.

Bleez dodged the spell, even as her two compatriots charged at the green-clad woman. Enchantress' eyes lit up with excitement as she held a hand towards the blue-green alien. A sickeningly, greenish light flowed over her hand, something that caused a prickling sensation up Cyborg's neck. She waited until the last second before she cast her spell, hitting the Red Lantern point blank as she declared, "Rip and rend!"

The moment the green energy hit the alien, its very body ripped apart. First its skin tore to shreds, revealing its muscles and sinew just before that seemed to dissolve away. Lastly, came its skeleton before the bones crumbled into dust. Because of its momentum, the bone dust swept over Enchantress, leaving a film of white on her clothes.

That was both disgusting and insane all at once.

Skallox skidded to a stop in midair, his anger for once being shut down by his sense for survival. At least, that's what Cyborg thought before Skallox vomited a spray of his blood at the witch.

Enchantress saw this coming and smirked just before she disappeared, a cloud of smoke left in her wake. The blood hit the floor, splattering all over it.

Eye darting this way and that, Cyborg sought out the sorceress, not seeing her anywhere. Of course, he found her at long last as she seemed to fade into existence right behind Skallox, both of her hands raised up by either side of her head. Because of his angle, he couldn't get a good look on her face, but he found that perhaps that was for the best.

Whatever she had intended for her prey though, she never got a chance to do it. That was largely in part to Bleez flying in, one leg extended out in front of her. Her foot collided with Enchantress' head, knocking her off her feet as she was sent sailing through the air.

Enchantress disappeared in mid-air, reappearing several feet further away, facing the two Red Lanterns. With a hand up, she spoke, "Disintegrate," an orb of purple magic firing from her palm.

In response, Bleez vomited out her blood, sending a thick glob of it flying at the speeding orb. The two sides collided and much to Cyborg's surprise, the blood actually seemed to dissolve the magic right then and there.

Enchantress blinked her eyes owlishly at that. "Well, that's new," she said out loud.

"There is nothing a Red Lantern's napalm cannot consume," Bleez boasted then. She then gestured to the floor, where Skallox's napalm had hit. A hole had formed where it had landed, much to Cyborg's concern.

Then, he recalled the round Red Lantern from earlier. Jerking his head around, the mechanical man saw the portion of the window it had spat on was warped, almost as if it were still melting. Oh great, the window was being eaten, no matter how slowly it was going. Soon there would be a breach.

Not good.

"Well then, I'll just have to kill you two before you can spit at me," Enchantress said. "And by the way, that's pretty gross."

Bleez then snapped her fingers, which caused Skallox to stand at attention. "If you would do the honors," she spoke to him.

The goat-headed alien nodded before he tilted his head to the floor and vomited more of his napalm. A bunch of it went through the hole in the floor, but some touched the ground, causing it to burn and widen the hole. To Cyborg, this made no sense.

"Now, if our rings are correct, I believe this station of yours has a reactor," the Red Lantern woman said to the two Leaguers. "And that reactor is below us."

Actually, it was quite a few floors below them, but Cyborg realized just what was done. Skallox's napalm was meant to reach the reactor and cause it to go into a meltdown. If that happened, the Watchtower was history!

"You gotta stop it!" Cyborg shouted at Enchantress, startling her.

The witch merely waved off his concern. "I can repair whatever damage comes to it," she replied lazily. "First thing's first, I've got to eliminate these pests."

With both hands raised in front of her, she fired a blast of green magic at the two Red Lanterns, both of whom jumped to two different sides to avoid it. For Bleez, she ended up right by the sparking computer station, one that she grabbed onto. Pulling back, she pulled out the large monitor, twisting her body around so that she could throw it at the sorceress.

In response, Enchantress aimed her hands at the approaching monitor and a green light emanated outward. In an instant, the light stopped the computer screen. For a moment it hung there, right before the green-clad woman turned to her left, swinging the monitor through the air. Skallox had been charging at her, which allowed her to slam the monitor against him, burying him in the mainframe as it crushed him into the wall.

Keeping up her hold, Enchantress pulled the broken monitor from the wall and flung it towards Bleez. The blue-skinned woman dove under it, going into a roll that allowed her to disappear into the hole in the floor. Before the witch could give chase though, Skallox emerged from the wall he had been rammed into, launching himself headfirst at her. Her attention immediately focused on the antlers that seemed to gleam in the light of the monitor room.

"Stop!" she demanded as she unleashed her green light again, stopping the goat-headed alien in his tracks the moment he flew into it.

Raising her hand over her head, Skallox was pulled upward as well. Enchantress twisted her body around and brought her hand down, slamming the Red Lantern onto the floor on his back. "Now burst," she commanded.

For a moment, nothing happened. But then Skallox's chest and stomach began to tremble. Up and down and it went until both expanded outwards before exploding, sending blood flying everywhere.

"Oh," Enchantress spoke as her eyes widened. She then vanished into thin air, leaving the blood to splatter all over the floor, walls, and ceiling.

"What the hell?!" Cyborg shouted in rage, just as the witch appeared by him. "Look at what you did! If any of that eats through the hull—"

"Relax, tin man," the woman interrupted. She then waved her hand, the blood seeming to vanish away, only leaving partially-dissolved spots all over the room. "See? It's all fixed."

That was when the room was bathed in red light, an alarm sounding off. "You were saying?" he deadpanned as he stared at her.

"Maybe you should quit with the I-told-you-so's and figure out what's happen," Enchantress retorted in irritation.

Scowling at her, Cyborg could find no fault with that suggestion and did just that, accessing the Watchtower's network. He immediately found what was wrong. "Oh no," he said softly. "The reactor core, it's having a meltdown."

"That's definitely not good."

Bleez suddenly re-emerged through the hole in the floor, looking quite pleased with herself. She didn't pay any mind to Skallox's corpse on the other side of the room, instead looking at the two Leaguers. "Your base is finished," she declared, just as a bloody portal opened up behind her. "I am not what you would call computer literate, but I do understand directions. You have mere moments before you are nothing more than a ball of fire falling to the planet. Value your last moments for they will be your last."

She then stepped backwards into the portal, fading into it before it closed. Cyborg couldn't help but berate himself for this. While her friend was distracting Enchantress, she had made sure the reactor was damaged beyond repair. True, the sorceress could fix the damage, but the amount of time needed was...well, there was no telling how much they had left.

Enchantress had that thought in her mind as well. "Time to go." She placed her hand on the mechanized man's shoulder and did some sort of spell. All Cyborg knew was that the monitor room vanished before his eyes in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

John soared through the sky, just barely above the height of the buildings that lined the street below. Behind him, a handful of Red Lanterns were on his tail, snarling, grunting, and growling as they gave chase.

" _John, where the hell are you?!"_ Shayera demanded in his ear.

Following his ejection of Major Force to outer space, the Green Lantern had received a hailing from the Thanagarian, who had trouble of her own. He had been on his way to assist her when he got his tail.

It was a good thing he wasn't having to dodge red constructs too. Though it was weird considering these guys had power rings, John theorized that because they were so consumed with rage, they couldn't focus coherently enough to form one, not even your standard energy blast. That left them close-quarters combat, which gave him an advantage.

"I'm almost to the docks," John answered the redhead, eyes looking up ahead and seeing the harbor. "Got a tail as well."

" _That's just...haaaaa...dandy,"_ she replied full of snark. " _I've got my hands way too full and if you don't get here soon, I'll be busting your head wide open when you do!"_

John resisted a sigh. Shayera was just frustrated that this invasion was stretching their lines way too thin. There was no backup coming since everyone had their hands full. That wasn't even factoring in the deaths they had already experienced.

Still, he needed to lighten his load, so to speak. Twisting around in the air until his back was towards the ground, which allowed him to tilt his head down and see his pursuers. Focusing his will as he continued to move until he was flying with his feet towards the ground, he willed his power ring to form a green construct around him. Energy poured out of the ring and wrapped around him, then various points extended out. Before too long, an absurd amount of large cannon barrels were pointed from him towards the Red Lanterns.

A moment later, he unleashed Hell.

Simultaneously, each barrel fired a powerful blast, followed by each cannon firing at random times. The first wave blasted into the Red Lanterns, stopping most of them in their tracks as a few continued to close the distance between him and them. They didn't get far as he continued to fire away, striking each and every one of them until there was nothing more than a cloud of smoke wafting up higher into the air.

There, that should've taken care of them, or given them something to think about. Allowing the construct to disappeared, John then took off for the harbor.

When he arrived, he immediately found Shayera engaged in her own fight. It was like watching a swarm of Red Lanterns with the winged woman pulling out every aerial trick she knew. She dodged, swept over the ground, and made seemingly random sharp turns all while striking out with her mace every so often. She couldn't keep that up for much longer.

So as John came to hover, he willed a fifty caliber machine gun into existence, the large gun hanging beneath his hands as he gripped the two different hand grips. Squeezing the trigger, he unleashed a torrent of bullets, slowly sweeping the barrel from left to right and back. Shayera immediately shot upward to avoid the gunfire, though the Red Lanterns tried a different tact, trying to rush him as they were gunned down.

He would've kept it up too, had something not nailed him in the back of his head. Crying out, John lost his focus and his construct disappeared. Another powerful blow hit him in the back, sending him flying forward and down until he crashed onto the dock.

Wincing as he slowly raised his head, the Green Lantern turned his head in time to see a rather large, pig-faced Red Lantern barreling down on him. At least he was until Shayera swooped in, slamming her mace against the side of his head, knocking the Lantern away. "Are you okay?" she demanded as she gracefully landed before him, keeping her blunt weapon in front of her, ready to strike with it.

"Yeah, just peachy," John replied as he got himself up. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the two of them. It seemed the Red Lanterns he had shot at, were still alive and well, hovering in the air with anger on their face. They practically surrounded the two Leaguers from all sides.

"So, got any ideas?" he asked.

"Kill them all," the Thanagarian responded, tightening her grip on the mace's handle.

"Not a bad one; any idea as to how?"

She turned her head to give him a look. "How about not using a construct that just stuns them, if that? That would be a pretty good idea."

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Don't give me any lip. You're not the one that has to watch out for burning vomit every time you try to hit them."

"John Stewart," one of the Red Lanterns called out, ending their bickering. "Shayera Hol, the cries of vengeance demand retribution of you. Fight as hard as you can, you will die here and now."

"Oh, like we haven't heard that before," Shayera shot back, returning her attention to the encroaching Lanterns. "We don't care why you're here; just know that you're the ones that are going to die."

That was all it took for the Red Lanterns to launch themselves at the two. They screamed wildly as they closed the distance between them, arms stretched out with blood drooling out of their mouths. Both John and Shayera shifted their stances, ready to fight back.

As it turned out, they didn't have to fight back. Exploding from the water behind them, large tentacles lashed out, whipping down on Red Lanterns or wrapping around them outright. The two Leaguers looked back in surprised by this development, watching as a few Red Lanterns were dragged under the water.

More tentacles came out then, striking out as a second wave. This time, the Red Lanterns scattered, dodging the tentacles as they tried to fight back. On top of one of the whipping arms though, a figure appeared. He leaped off of it, sailing towards one of the Lanterns, holding a golden trident in his hands. Before the Red Lantern could react, the trident stab into him, the two figures dropping down to the dock were the Lantern was pinned down, the alien struggling as its blood pooled around its body.

Standing over it was a man with blond hair, water dripping down his naked torso. John glared at him. "Aquaman," he spoke with disapproval in his voice. "About time you answered our calls."

"You'll have to excuse me, Lantern," the blond man replied, not the least bit fazed by the venom directed at him. "Atlantis was under attack by these things. My people just routed them."

That at least explained why he hadn't involved himself in the fighting so far. Shayera took this at face value as well, even as the remaining Red Lanterns were struck down around them, or dragged into the watery depths of the harbor. "So you decided to bring a Kraken with you?" she asked.

"It was the first sea creature to answer my hails," Aquaman shrugged before pulling his trident out of the dying Red Lantern. "Besides, you shouldn't complain, it has enough power to rend these aliens to pieces."

"How will it do further into the city?" John asked then. "Because we're gonna have to move."

"I should more than suffice for any further combat," the Atlantean replied confidently. "Now then, lead the way."

If it weren't for the crisis on hand, John would've had stronger words for the man. Of the entire Regime, he was the most fickle with his participation. At times like this, they couldn't afford such loose allegiances.

For the time being though, he'd take the help.

Before they could even move though, a bright light lit up the sky causing the three to look up. What looked like a second sun hung up there before gradually dimming.

"What the hell is that?" Shayera demanded.

* * *

They had him surrounded. Atrocitus faced Kal, Diana towards his left next to the crumbled remains of a pillar, and Shazam slightly limping from the wall to the right and back. It was three on one with no more Red Lanterns to get in the way.

Still, it was not going to be an easy fight.

This foe was fueled by rage, which was a state Diana found herself in when she fought in real combat. Anger fueled her, allowed her to reach great heights, and achieve victory; it would not do the same here. Already she had been pushed aside on more than one occasion, the same for Shazam. That put him on equal footing with Kal. That wasn't exactly stellar odds.

Then the unexpected happened. "I can feel your rage," Atrocitus growled, continuing to stare down Kal. "All three of you are brimming with it. You all would make great Red Lanterns." He then extended a hand out, a red light flowing up from his palm. Slowly, three red rings appeared in the light, floating as they spun around in circles.

"Not interested," Kal quickly replied, holding himself still, arms at his side. Despite this, he looked relaxed, as if he could take on the world.

The Red Lantern leader took a step towards the Kryptonian. "Is that your final answer?"

The dark-haired man narrowed his eyes. "It is. Now get off of my planet."

There was a silence that permeated the courtyard, a tension that seemed to grow greater with every passing second. It was almost suffocating to the Amazon Princess.

And then Atrocitus nodded his acceptance. "Very well, but heed my words, Kryptonian. A day is coming where your reign here will end in shambles. You will be torn from your throne of corpses and cast into the bowels of Hell, and then you will cry for vengeance." He then turned his head to his left and then his right, looking to Diana and Shazam. "All of you will. And I will await that day with much anticipation."

What was happening? Was this monster stopping his conquest? But why?! He had the clear advantage! So why did he have this sudden change of heart? And what of Raven and Killer Frost? Had Kal lost his mind?! Did he intend on allowing their murderer leave here without reprisal?!

It seemed Kal had anticipated her feelings as he glanced towards her. The look in his eyes and on his face warned her not to argue, something that caused her to bristle. How dare he silence her? What had happened to his pledge? Never again…

Atrocitus looked to her then, holding his gaze on her. "It seems not all of your friends accept this choice of yours."

"She will," the Kryptonian assured him, which only irritated her further. "Isn't that right, Diana?"

He had deliberately put the spotlight on her. Had it been any other situation, she would've have refused the verdict and attacked the monster before. However, there was an audience here in the form of Shazam. As a part of their Regime, they had demanded absolute loyalty from their members; if she did not give into Kal's wishes, it would create a ripple effect that would've encouraged insurrection at less opportune times. That was something they could not afford.

"I accept the terms," she finally said evenly, straightening her posture. Though she verbally agreed, her stance informed anyone that she would be defiant in her actions.

"Then I will end our assault," Atrocitus said. Behind him, his blood portal opened. "For now, I will watch and wait. When the times comes that you demand vengeance, I may answer your call." Then he grinned evilly, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. "Then again, if the punishment is just, maybe I won't."

He then stepped backwards into the portal, his body losing all definition as he became a silhouette, the spewing blood pulling him in until he disappeared from sight. Then, as sudden as it had opened, the portal closed.

"Thank Solomon," Shazam breathed out in relief, bending over as he pressed his hands onto his knees to hold himself up. "It's finally over."

No, no it was not. With her fury burning from her eyes, Diana marched over to Kal. "What did you think you were doing?" she hissed at him, keeping her voice low enough that Shazam could not hear them.

"What I'm expected to do," the dark-haired man replied, narrowing his eyes. "I stopped the invasion. It's over. Now I want debriefings. I want to know how much damage was done and then I want to know what we're going to do to fix everything. Right now we have a spotlight on us and if we can't show the world our strength, they will lose faith in us. I refuse to let that happen."

Diana wanted to say more, but she was unable to. It wasn't for lack of trying, but the sudden burst of smoke and fire behind her drew her attention. Spinning around, the Amazon held her fists up, ready to fight whatever had arrived.

As the smoke disappeared, Cyborg and Enchantress appeared. Cyborg seemed disoriented by the courtyard around him until he spotted Kal. "Superman!" he called out as he tried to stand.

It was then that Diana noticed his arm. It was ripped apart and oddly enlarged. Whatever had happened to him, it had left his arm inoperable. "Superman," he repeated as he stumbled on his feet. "The Watchtower, it's—"

"What about the Watchtower?" Kal demanded as he shifted his focus.

As if in answer, a bright light appeared in the sky, making all five of them cover their faces with their arms in hands. Forcing herself to look up, she saw the brilliant ball of light up there, not unlike the sun.

"That," Cyborg responded after several moments. "The reactor core was damaged during the fighting. It…" He stopped to swallow deeply. "It's gone."

Diana found her shoulders sagging. Not only had they lost friends and comrades, but they had also lost the Watchtower. The cost of this invasion, she feared, had yet to reveal its total cost.

Turning her head, she glared at Kal. Hopefully he realized just what he had done in allowing Atrocitus' escape. If not, she would keep it at the forefront so that he never forgot.

 _Never again._

* * *

One of my frustrations with the Injustice comics was the lack of loss on the Regime's side of things. Superman's side rarely lost anyone and it was mostly out of convenience for the story line that his side was short-staffed. Meanwhile, the Insurgency lost people left and right. While Batman's team wasn't trying to kill anyone, you would think that with Superman aligning with Yellow Lanterns of all things would result in more casualties than it did. The Red Lantern arc for this story was to help remedy that situation for me.

And to the authors that have correctly pointed out that I had being using Killer Shark instead of King Shark, I've gone back and corrected all of those misuses. A big reason why I hadn't changed it even in future chapters was to keep it uniform, that and I was too lazy to go back and fix it. I finally decided to correct it so it should read King Shark now.

To the first Guest reviewer: His return is coming, don't you worry lol.

To the second Guest reviewer: Probably lounging somewhere. That chair of his is comfy.


	20. Leader Of The Bat Underground

As of now, _Fallen Olympus_ has reached the 100 review mark, making it the first for this series—and subsequently the most reviewed story—between myself and Anonymous Void. We'd like to thank everyone that has read and reviewed this story to reach this point. We hope you continue to read and enjoy these stories going forward.

* * *

The light of the ankh brightened up the cave. Batman and Batwoman walked out of it, then just as it suddenly appeared, it disappeared.

" _There is much to do," Dr Fate had said just before he opened the gateway to send them back. "Order has been upended by chaos. We must figure out what chaos has been wrought before we strike."_

Obtaining intelligence was not a bad idea. It still didn't alleviate the dark mood that had settled on the vigilante. He had been stuck outside of space and time, left helpless as the world was attacked. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, one he had every desire to get rid of. No amount of fact finding was going to fix that.

Batwoman had removed her mask, Cassandra's concerned features appearing as she activated the computer. She paused as she stared at the monitor, their last search still present on the screen. Almost hesitantly, she began typing on the keys.

Soon, the screen was split into nine different squares, three up and three across. Only two of them were of major news networks while the rest looked like CCTV cams.

"Why don't you access more stations?" Batman asked as he came to stand next to the dark-haired woman.

"The only media groups that are allowed to air are ones sympathetic to the Regime," she answered him, keeping her eyes on the screen. "That left two of them and even then, I'm not expecting much more than 'everything's fine, nothing to see here' stories."

Glancing to the screen, the dark-clad man saw his protege was not wrong. It was very obvious when compared to the CCTV cams that were showing various wreckage in cities throughout the world. Right now, the television anchors were saying an alien invasion had been turned away by Superman and the Regime and that everything was okay.

How the heck was the reporter in Kent not shrieking with horror?

"It looks like the damage is minimal, at least to civilian quarters," Cassandra said after awhile. "It's almost a shame that I can't look up Regime headquarters; those are all constantly under surveillance by Cyborg."

Which meant she was unwilling to hack those networks to look. That was fine though, it was best to be cautious. If this Cyborg did half of what Cassandra said he could, then he would be on high alert for any intrusion in the digital realm. Now wasn't the time to carelessly expose themselves.

"Is there any way we can get some live intel?" he asked then, not bothering to look away from the screen.

Out of the corner of his eye, he observed Cassandra smirking as she looked to him. "The Bat Underground has some of the best reconnaissance forces in the world. When using computers became dangerous for us, we learned how to scout out locations the old fashioned way. I've no doubt those guys are already looking into what the Regime is doing."

Batman nodded his approval. "Then we need to go out there too. What's the location of your base?"

"Right where it's always been: Neo-Gotham," she replied. "It's deep in the old subway tunnels; that's mostly because it was lined with lead when it was first built, so Superman couldn't see us."

"Take me there." The vigilante had turned and began marching towards his car. He frowned at the sight of all of the bat guano on it, but as long as it ran, that was all that mattered.

"Where are you going?"

Batman turned his head to the woman. "Going to the car, what does it look like?"

"Uh, no, we're not using that," she told him bluntly. "Do you realize how much that sticks out? I haven't spent all of this time trying to keep a low profile only to blow my cover because of a car."

That caused him to stop. "Then how do you suggest we get to town?"

"The way I always have."

* * *

Was there such a thing as a Bat-sedan?

The car was old and banged up, painted with an ugly color of tan. It had seen much better days around 2024. Yet, considering where they were going, it was perfect camouflage.

Cassandra glanced to the passenger seat, seeing a stoic Bruce Wayne sitting stiffly in the seat. His upbringing—she had once been told it was called being blue-blooded—was really shining through his features. He looked out of place in this hunk of junk.

They hadn't completely removed their respective armors, just the cowls. Both vigilantes had trench coats over their suits, their masks being held by Bruce. Cassandra was in the driver's seat, driving the car to their destination. There was almost a sense of wrongness with this setup. Since she had been a young girl, it was Batman that had driven them wherever they needed to go. With their positions reversed, it just didn't seem right.

Currently, they were in the Bowery of Neo-Gotham. It wouldn't be too long until they reached their destination: the abandoned subway. However, they weren't going to use the station entrance—that had been sealed up years ago by the city—read: the Insurgency—under the guise that it was a public safety hazard. If the Regime ever found out about the place, it certainly would be.

Spotting a familiar alley, she turned the car into it, driving down it until she slowed to a stop. "Wait here," she told her passenger before she opened the car door and climbed out. Walking around the car, she headed for a steel door, a power box protruding from the wall next to it. Stopping in front of the power box, she opened it to reveal a small keypad inside. Punching in a numeric code, a green light flickered on before the door began to roll upwards.

Quickly, Cassandra moved back to the driver's side of the car, climbing back in. Once the door was high enough for them to enter, she drove the car in, entering what was best described as an empty garage. The door behind them began to roll down, coming to a complete close moments later.

They sat in the car then, Cassandra waiting while Bruce's eyes were darting from side to side. It was clear he was expecting something. That something did happen as a mechanical groaning sound was made and the room began to rise up around them. Soon, concrete walls surrounded them as a new ceiling slid from one side of the shaft to the other overhead.

Cassandra held a hand out to her passenger and Bruce handed over her mask. Pulling it over her head, she waited out the odd sensation her red-haired wig gave her as it meshed down on her natural dark locks. It would go away eventually, and you would think she'd be used to it by now, yet it hadn't. Glancing to her right, her partner had his own cowl on, Batman's stoic expression on his face.

Their descent ended soon after, revealing the old Gotham subway. It looked a heck of a lot different than it had in his day. Instead of old subway trains or rail lines being present, the entire place was filled with men and women milling about. Towers of crates and box mingled with tables, which had various office supplies on them. The hub was teeming with energy.

Batwoman got out of the car then, followed by Batman. Both paused long enough to pull off their trench coats and toss them back into the car, the sound of car doors slamming shut echoing soon after. The red-haired vigilante didn't say a thing nor gestured for her guest to follow her, he just did.

As they entered the frenzy, Batwoman couldn't help but notice several people pausing as they saw her, then directly focused on Batman. It had been that way when she had been Batgirl. She could give people pause, but the fabled Dark Knight sucked up all of the attention, freezing them where they stood. It was a sight she realized she had missed.

Right now, though, she was on the lookout for one individual specifically. If there was anyone compiling what was going on, it was a nondescript forty year old man who looked more like he belonged in an office building then a rebel base. She found him at his usual workbench, his balding head leaning over what looked like a blueprint, reading it with glasses over his eyes.

"McGinnis," she called out, causing the man to look up. Just like everyone else, he spotted her, then immediately looked to the giant bat over her shoulder. His hand fell to a sidearm at his side, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

"Who's that?" he demanded warily, his eyes darting between the two Bats as they came to a stop in front of him.

"This is Batman," the red-haired vigilante answered, "and that's all you need to know. He'll be working with us for the time being." She then looked to her comrade to continue the introduction. "This is Warren McGinnis, our top intelligence officer."

Predictably, Batman didn't say a word.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Warren asked, raising his other hand up as he adjusted his glasses on his face.

"Yes, you can." Batwoman leaned forward, a stern look on her face. "And you will."

"Sorry, Batwoman, but you know better than anyone we can't just accept anybody's word, including yours. I'm gonna need—"

Batman leaned forward then, a similar look on his face as hers. "Yes, you will."

Warren McGinnis looked between the two Bats before moving his free hand to point at Batman while keeping his eyes on Batwoman. "You've been training someone, haven't you?"

A smirk appeared on her face. "Actually, it's the other way around."

Again, the balding man looked between the two. "You got this from him?" He then shook his head before sagging his shoulders in defeat. "Alright, I believe you. What can I do for you?"

"Both of us have been out of the loop thanks to an unexpected interloper," Batwoman started. "I want to know what's going on with the Regime."

"What isn't happen?" McGinnis turned to the table, placing his hands on top of it. "We're still piecing things together, but we've learned through our sources in the Regime that the attack was committed by some group called the Red Lantern Corps and they did some serious damage." He then gestured to the blueprint. "This is the blueprint for one of the Regime's garrisons in Neo-Gotham and right now it's decimated. Whatever those aliens were, they wiped all out of Superman's grunts with ease, even with the 5-U-93-R. More reports are coming in of the same thing across the world of the garrisons being massacred."

That got Batwoman's attention. "You mean the shocktroopers are all gone?"

"Not all, but most." McGinnis then reached for a manila folder that was at the upper corner of the table. Pulling it closer, he opened it to reveal head shots of various Regime big guns. "The meta-humans also took some losses too. We have it on good authority that King Shark and Major Force were both killed in the fighting. We're trying to find out if anyone else is out."

That caused the vigilante to blink her eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, this alien attack had done some serious damage to the Regime. She looked to Batman for confirmation on this opinion. "Anything else?" the Dark Knight asked instead.

"Well, it's unconfirmed as of yet, but there were distress signals sent out from the Watchtower." McGinnis then looked to Batman before adding, "That's their communication hub. All of their communications were run through there, along with quick evacuations and reserve transports, all of which is under supervision of Cyborg.

"What isn't disputed was there was a bright light in the sky towards the end of the invasion," he continued. "I have people trying to figure out what was in that general area at the time and we believe the Watchtower was in the vicinity. Again, we're trying to get confirmation."

"What about civilian casualties?" Batman questioned then.

Warren moved a hand rub his forehead. "Now that's been the strangest part of all. So far we've come up with minimal casualties. It's almost as if the Regime itself was being targeted. I've had a couple casualties come across my desk, but all of those people had rap sheets a mile long, each one including murder."

"The Regime has murdered people," Batwoman was quick to bring up. "Maybe there's a connection?"

Warren shrugged his shoulders. "Again, we're—"

"Getting confirmation, of course." And again, Batwoman felt as if they had a serious opportunity here. If half of what had been reported was true, the Regime was reeling right now, losing most, if not all of their grunts, a few of their big guns, and potentially the Watchtower. If this wasn't the perfect time to strike, then she didn't know what was.

"So, what do you think, Bat…" she trailed off as she turned to look at her comrade, only to find he wasn't next to her. Her posture straightened out as she jerked her head from left to right, looking around for the dark-clad man.

Where had he gone to?

She heard a chuckle then, causing her to look to McGinnis. "So that's where you get it from," he continued to laugh.

* * *

The Red Lantern attacks had been more devastating than anyone could have predicted.

The entire Justice League had been summoned—at least the ones that were still alive. Even Arthur Curry, the Aquaman, had come. For Diana, all it did was highlight just how thin their ranks were.

The Amazonian Princess was still peeved at what had transpired—particularly how it ended. No way should they have allowed the losses they suffered to go unpunished. It was wrong and set a bad example for anyone wishing to do the same.

For now, they were receiving a debriefing from Cyborg. "First thing's first: you may have noticed we have some people missing," he began. "Raven, Killer Frost, King Shark, Major Force, and Volcana were all killed in the invasion. Others we had in reserve were also targeted and killed defending themselves. We also suffered heavy casualties at all our garrisons across the globe. These Red Lanterns went after everyone and everybody."

That part Diana hadn't known. Following the fight in the courtyard, she had Cyborg call out to the rest of the League to get status reports. Her anger and grief had escalated with each name she heard of a fallen comrade. To know that their fellow officers were also targeted was beyond galling.

"And to put the cherry on top of this shit sundae, the Watchtower was destroyed," the cybernetic man finished.

Kal pressed his hands together with the fingers interlocking, holding them before his face as he seemed to slouch in his seat. "This is very troubling news," he spoke after awhile.

"I'm just the messenger," Cyborg was quick to point out.

"And this is only the start," John interjected. "Cyborg obviously needs repairs, we're all beaten and tired, and that isn't even including all of the damage we need to clean up. Don't even get me started on the Insurgency either; no doubt they'll be wanting to take advantage of all this."

Which was another thing. There had been no mention of the Insurgency in any of the reports. Nothing that said they had taken hits themselves. It was as if it had buried itself while the League was fighting to protect them—the cowards.

"Don't forget, those Red Lantern guys could come back," Shazam pointed out. "Their leader got away and there's no telling—"

"He got away?!" John suddenly bellowed, cutting off the young hero. "What do you mean he got away?!"

This needed to be nipped in the bud immediately. "The Red Lantern leader was allowed to leave upon promising to withdraw his forces. That is what ended the conflict without further loss of life," Diana informed the Leaguers.

"All so he can come back and try again?!" the Green Lantern continued to argue. "What ever happen to 'never again'? Huh? This is becoming a second Vandal Savage incident and I don't have to remind you how that turned out."

Diana's face twisted with anger. That was uncalled for and she was going to let him know it. However, before she could say so, Aquaman spoke up. "That does seem out of character for you," he remarked casually, his eyes moving between Kal and Diana languidly.

"It was Kal's decision to allow Atrocitus to leave," the Amazon replied, tilted her head back haughtily.

The incredulous look on John's face silenced him. Shayera had even looked at her in disbelief. "Talk about a twist," Enchantress commented, a trance of humor in her voice.

"If anyone has an issue with my decision, I've only got one thing to say," Kal said then, drawing the full attention of the room to him. "Get over it. I made a tough decision at a difficult time. The enemy we were facing fed off our anger, which only made them stronger. The only way to stop Atrocitus was to make him go away. I'm very well aware of the fact he could come back; in fact, I'm counting on it. We'll be ready next time and then will make him pay for what he's done."

"That is a fine point," Aquaman agreed. "Atlantis was able to fend off these Red Lanterns. We can improve upon those strategies and incorporate them into our overall defense."

"Great idea, Arthur," the Kryptonian commended him. "Now, if there's nothing anyone else has to offer, you can leave."

There was a scowl on John's face, but he obeyed the command, turning around and walking for the door. The others filed after him, leaving only Kal, Diana, and Cyborg. Once the doors closed, the Amazon looked curiously to the mechanical man.

"There is one thing I wanted to tell you," Cyborg said, looking up to Kal. "Since we've brought about world peace, I've had a lot of time on my hands up on the Watchtower. I was working on something that would get us away from having to use people as soldiers."

That piqued Diana's interest. Though she was proud of all who volunteered to help defend Earth, the cost of recruiting and training were exorbitant. To be able to get around that was intriguing.

"Tell me more," Kal ordered, placing his arms down on the armrests so that he could push himself up in his seat.

"I've been calling it the Tornado Project," he explained. "Basically, it would be an android with your standard powers: super-strength, durability, and so on. I just need to work out the bugs and I can have a prototype ready to go."

That sounded pretty good; however, there was one issue Diana could see. "You said you were developing this up on the Watchtower, correct? Wouldn't that mean all of your data was lost when it was destroyed?"

"I worked on it on the Watchtower, but I saved everything onto my internal hard drive," Cyborg replied. "All I need is a place to work on it and a plant to begin production."

"You've got it," Kal decreed. "Do you have a place in mind?"

"Yeah, there's a place in Motor City that's perfect for this. If there's a team we can spare, it'll really kick-start things."

"That might not be doable. Our reserves are depleted, remember."

"Oh, right." Cyborg grimaced. "Then I guess I'm on my own. I'll keep you updated on my progress."

"Do that and be safe."

* * *

He was so dead.

Night had come way too soon. The lights from the streetlamps were on, so he had to keep out of sight. There was no telling if the patrols were out, or where they would be. Considering everything that had happened today, the boy was pretty certain they had their hands full.

It was pretty insane. Jaime Reyes had been out with his friends, hitting the arcades, and just having a pretty good day. The weather had been great too, though the meteorologist missed all of the crazy red things that fell from the sky. You would've thought they would've caught that.

Jaime crouched by the wooden fence. He had made it to his neighborhood in spite of all the crazy shit that had happened today. There had been points he wasn't sure he would've made it, but thank God he had. Now, all he had to do was cross this street and reached the house on the other side, and he'd make it scot-free.

Glancing from left to right, the boy didn't see anything coming down the street. Seeing the all-clear, Jaime took off, running as fast as he could. The sound of his footsteps seemed to echo throughout the night, making it louder each time his shoes slapped down on the cement sidewalk and asphalt pavement. His backpack swung from side to side with every step he took, throwing his balance off slightly.

Thankfully, nothing jumped out to stop him and Jaime was at his front door. With his house key in hand, he shoved it into the lock, turned it, then opened the door, and darted inside. The moment he had the lock in place, he let out a sigh.

He had made it home.

A light suddenly clicked on.

"And where were you Jaime Gonzalez Reyes?

Jaime stiffened. Slowly, he turned around to find his mother, still wearing her hospital scrubs, and looking at him with disapproval. "Hey, Mama," he greeted her with false cheer. "I didn't know you were still up."

"And why wouldn't I be? After all, my eldest comes in at God knows what time in the middle of the night—after curfew, might I add—and after the sky rained down red aliens. Where else should I have been, mihijo? In bed asleep?"

"Well...yeah? I mean, you do work long shifts at the hospital."

"That's right, I do. In fact, I had to stay late to make sure everyone that was hurt was taken care of. Then and only then was I able to go home with a police escort so that I wasn't picked up for being late after curfew." Her eyes darkened. "That was over an hour ago."

Jaime gulped. Oh, yeah, this was not going to go over very well.

"Well, ya see, Mama, I was with Brenda and Paco and we...kinda...got...caught up...in all of that."

Gone was his mother's disapproval and she was immediately in front of him, her hands roaming his body roughly. "Oh, my baby? Are you hurt? Dime donde duele. Duele aqui? Que tal aqui?"

When his mother's hand began inspecting his...well, his private parts, that's when Jaime began to resist. "Ay Mama! No me lastimo alli! Stop, stop!"

That didn't stop her, but she didn't force him to take his pants off thankfully. Finding he wasn't any worse for wear, she sighed and wrapped her arms tightly around him, burying his face into her chest. "Oh, mihijo, don't frighten me like that." She then pushed him away, holding him at arm's length. "Now you go wash up and get to bed, okay? We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Okay, Mama." Huh, it seemed he was getting a free pass. Well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, his father always said. Quickly, he hurried to his room, closing the door behind him. Slipping his backpack off his shoulders, he tossed it at the foot of his bed and jumped onto the mattress, landing on it with his back, bouncing a couple of times.

He sighed as he rested his hands beneath his head, staring up at the ceiling for awhile. Now this, this was heaven. After having to run from alley to alley, watching out for those aliens, he was beat. Who knew running and stopping over and over would tire a person out? It was amazing that he and his friends had gotten out of there when they had, even after...

Jaime's head perked up. That's right! Scrambling over to the edge of his bed, he grabbed his backpack and pulled it closer to him, though it remained on the floor. Unzipping it, he reached in and pulled out a blue bug-looking thing.

Before the aliens had fallen from the sky, he and Brenda and Paco had been crossing a vacant lot when he had tripped over the thing. Not sure what it was, but pretty sure it had to have some value, he picked it up to inspected it when all the craziness happened. He had tossed it into his backpack and forgot about it until now.

Turning it from top to bottom with his hands, the young boy inspected it. From what he could tell, it was all one piece, nothing to indicate it could be taken apart. Rubbing his hands across the surface, he could tell it was slick and polished. Someone had taken pretty good care of this thing before ditching it in the lot.

Well, considering how nice it looked, perhaps he could sell it. He'd go to a pawnshop or some antique store and have it appraised, maybe even sell it. Oh yeah, he liked the sound of that.

* * *

There was something troubling about this place. Batman couldn't put his finger on it, but his gut was telling him there was more to this old subway than met the eye.

Wandering through the room—blatantly ignoring the stares he got from the Insurgents—the vigilante scanned the workstations and crates he passed by. On the surface, everything looked like a makeshift base where guerilla operations were planned. That he had expected. What he wasn't expecting was the detail such operations took.

For instance, as he approached a table, he saw a blueprint of what must have been a garrison for the Regime. Multiple X's marked strike points, arrows indicating where each team was supposed to go. That wasn't too concerning. What was were the numbers at various points. They were times, either from a clock, or a timer. From people that were unskilled, in comparison to him, the times suggested were not possible. However, for well-trained teams, they were entirely doable.

Perhaps the number of years this Bat Underground group had been in operation was the reason why. Yet, Batman didn't feel this was the case. Looking away, he saw a long wooden box, its lid crooked to the rest of the box. Approaching it, he knelt next to it and lifted the lid up. Inside he saw bedding with grenades resting within.

He narrowed his eyes at this. Where had they been able to obtain this? Looking up, he noticed a series of the same sized crates stacked neatly next to the one he was examining. From the looks of it, they had a supply of grenades.

It would've been one thing if they had been pilfering these weapons. If that were the case, they wouldn't have as many. If they weren't stealing them, then they were buying them, which indicated they had some sort of funding.

Who was bankrolling this operation?

Standing back up, Batman walked further down the aisle he was in, stopping when he came to a different sized crate. Not hesitating, he grabbed a nearby crowbar and shoved an end beneath the lid. Pulling down on the crowbar, he opened the box up, shoving the lid up higher so he could get a better look.

Inside this crate, he saw strangely-designed weapons. They looked like rifles, except the barrels were elongated and did not have a bullet chamber. What the hell was this?

"There you are!"

Turning his attention away, he saw Batwoman storming up to him. "I've been looking all over for you!" she reprimanded him, a stern look on her face.

He ignored it. "Mind telling me what these are?" he asked, gesturing to the open crate with a hand.

Batwoman looked inside before returning her gaze to him. "That's just the taser guns we use. A late-Gotham vigilante developed it and we've been using them ever since."

A taser gun? Faintly, Batman was reminded of such a weapon. Yet, how were there so many? "Who builds these?"

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "I'm entirely not sure. It was thought best that the leaders not know how the Bat Underground obtained supplies. Since we were the ones going out into the field, all it would take is one of us captured and enough torture to spill."

The Dark Knight stared at her with disapproval. No way would he have just let someone supply him without knowing the details. That was just bad practice; he had taught her that a long time ago, or so he thought. He'd have to give her a refresher course very soon.

"Do you know who's funding this operation?" he inquired then.

"We're not. All of this is obtained by any means that we can."

Batwoman continued to speak, but Batman didn't hear a word of it. It was obvious she hadn't looked into the details. "I highly doubt that," he interrupted her eventually "There's too many of these weapons here for it to be stolen tech. Someone would've noticed by now, especially the Regime. Someone, or someones are paying a lot of money to keep you operational."

His former protege looked at him bewildered. "Do you really think that?"

"I know so. There's too much tech, too much organization for this to be some ragtag team of volunteers."

Suddenly, the sound of clapping startled them. Spinning around, Batman noticed a doorway, darkness pouring out of it. The clapping—slow at first, but growing louder and faster—clearly came from there. The vigilante lowered a hand to his belt, ready to pull out a shuriken at a moment's notice. Soon, a figure emerged through the doorway.

"You never cease to impress me."

The very hairs on Batman's neck raised on end at the sight of a man in a tailored suit, partially covered by a green cloak. A small, approving smile on on his face as his steely blue eyes danced with mirth. The vigilante's hand clenched tightly into fists.

"We meet again, Detective," Ra's al Ghul greeted him. "I believe we have many things to discuss."

* * *

To Guest: Cooling their heels, I would imagine. Not that they had much of a choice.


	21. Machinations Of The Demon

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Sorry for not updating yesterday, but since it was Christmas, AV and I decided to spend time with family and update this story today. Also, _Of Earth and Sky_ will not be updated today, but will resume this Friday. For now, we hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Batman had always suspected he hadn't seen the last of Ra's al Ghul. A man didn't live for over seven hundred years without surviving a few brushes with death. Though one could hardly call being consumed by fire as a holy temple collapsed around him a brush of death.

Regardless, no amount of anticipation could have prepared him from staring the Demon's Head down from across the table. After their initial encounter, Ra's had led them into a room for privacy—so that they could talk.

"I assume you have questions as to my well-being, Detective," Ra's al Ghul said after they had stared at each other in silence. They sat at a round table, an assortment of random wooden chairs situated around it. Clearly this was not a locale the distinguished gentlemen was accustomed to by his stiff posture in his seat. He looked out of place in these surroundings.

"To the contrary," Batman replied evenly. "I always knew I'd see you again. You're not someone easily killed."

A small smile appeared on his face. "You were wise to think so, though even you could not anticipated twenty years passing before our fateful reunion."

Batman and Batwoman perked their heads up at that remark. The Demon's Head had made it sound as if he expected to meet the former now. That caused the vigilante to narrow his eyes. There was no way he could've foreseen this situation. What were the chances that he would be thrown through time and someone expecting it to happen? The only way would be to have planned it yourself…

No...not even he could plan that…

There was a twinkle in Ra's eyes. "I see you've begun to touch the truth."

"That's impossible," Batman protested. "Even for you. The technology for time travel doesn't exist."

"That is where you are wrong, Detective. You're the living proof of that."

Batwoman was turning her head, looking from the Dark Knight to the Demon's Head as they challenged each other. "I've clearly walked in on something here," she said, interrupted their back-and-forth. "How is it you two know each other?" She then looked right to Batman. "You've never told me about him before."

The two men didn't look away from each other. "Batwoman," he addressed her first, "this is Ra's al Ghul, leader of a secret assassin organization known as the Demon's Fang. Their main goal is to use global genocide as a means to protect the planet."

"And how do you know this man?" she asked incredulously.

"It seems your former student lacks your deductive reasoning skills," Ra's remarked coolly, causing the woman to look to him. "Your mentor was in my employ many decades ago. He has an intimate knowledge of my many organizations, among other secrets."

Batwoman narrowed her eyes before returning her attention to the dark-clad man. "You and I are going to have a long talk about this."

"But not right now," Batman replied back. "What do you know about my being here, Ra's?"

"That is a story I intend on telling you," the older man said. "I presume your protege has informed you of what has transpired during your absence?"

"For the most part."

"Very good, that will save us some time. My portion of the story involves the last five years." Ra's adjusted himself in his seat. "I will not mince words, I was not completely against Superman's take over of the world. Because of his intervention, many of the actions mankind had taken to destroying the planet had been squashed. The environment was finally beginning to heal after centuries of destruction." A wistful expression appeared on his face. "I was even contemplating retirement."

"So what changed?" Batman asked.

"The Insurgency's last attempt at overthrowing the Regime, lead by that witch associate of yours. Following that failed attempt, Superman began to reverse course on many of his actions, starting with the creature of the 5-U-93-R weapon. The toxic waste produced for the super pill was worse than any pollution created by fossil fuels. I sent an envoy to plead for the Regime to halt their production, but my words fell on deaf ears.

"So I unleashed the full might of my Demon's Fang to stop the production process. Unfortunately, the Regime not only fended off my offensive, but actively began disassembling my organization. My various fangs were captured and killed; those that were able to escape fled into hiding. My assets were seized—the traceable ones that is—and I was forced to go underground."

Ra's sighed then, one that spoke of great grief. "They even killed Talia."

That got Batman's attention. It was sad to say he hadn't thought of Talia in a long time. He hadn't tried to find her after the event at Nanda Parbat, mostly because he had been distracted with returning to Gotham. He hadn't even thought about her in those intervening years.

That saddened him.

"It soon became clear to me that the Regime needed to be dealt with," Ra's continued, his voice returning to its normal tone, and subsequently bringing Batman back to the conversation. "However, a face-to-face confrontation was out of the question. All whom have tried such a strategy had been defeated; so I began to think what the best way to eliminate them. It pains me to say that I was unable to develop a feasible plan.

"I then began studying each and every Regime member, searching for weaknesses to exploit. The Bat Underground happened to be a result of this, a means to an end. Heroes that were not affiliated with the Regime took noticed of the group and began to join it, such as Mr. Queen, the late Jefferson Pierce, and Batwoman. Unfortunately, this too ended in a dead end. I was beginning to wonder if anyone in the Regime had a weakness."

Ra's eyes then lit up, a slow, yet growing glow that began to show on his face. "It was then I realized that they did indeed had weaknesses. I recalled that when you were a member of the Demon's Fang, you had come up with multiple strategies to neutralize each and every meta-human and had enacted a few of those plans to great success."

Out of the corner of his eye, Batman saw Batwoman stare at him in blatant astonishment. "I then commissioned what was left of my League of Assassins to dig up your research at the base in the Himalayas in an attempt to recover those plans."

"Dig up?" the vigilante questioned, raising an eyebrow up.

"When the Regime went after the Demon's Fang, they struck that base first," the older man explained. "Most of it lies in ruin now; which is what my men reported to me. Whatever research you had saved there was effectively lost and the only person with any knowledge was also no more."

Ra's paused as if he were contemplating his next words. "It then occurred to me that if I could not obtained your work, then another means was necessary. While I had theorized you may have some countermeasures in your cave's computer, I did not wish to corrupt them in the event that you installed a protocol to destroy them in the event of an improper access. To get them, I needed you."

Batman hardened his stare. "What did you do?" he said accusingly.

"Considering that you were confirmed deceased, I came up with the idea of trying to bring a version of you. It has long since been theorized that a multiverse exists and I researched the possibility of reaching out to such realms. Unfortunately, the technology needed for such a venture does not exist."

A grim smile then appeared on Ra's face. "However, in my research, I discovered a means of bending time and potentially transporting someone from one point in time to another. Using the limited resources I had at my disposal, I was able to create what you would consider crude time machines. Two of the designs proved to be useless, but the third did as it was constructed. However, due to its size, it only had enough power for one trip per use. That was the price that had to be paid in order to make it mobile."

"How large was the initial design?"

"The original design would have filled the wall behind me and be easily destroyed were it to be found."

"Then why didn't you try to improve upon the smaller design?" the vigilante questioned.

"Unfortunately, the Regime had found out what I was up to and intervened. I was barely able to escape with my life and the only working prototype. With my resources and time running out, I had no choice but to act. Assembling the last of my men loyal to me, I selected one to make the trip."

Ra's then leaned forward in his seat, clasping his hands together on top of the table. "Now, as you can imagine, time travel is a very disruptive endeavor. There was great fear that if someone goes into the past, they can change the future with little effort; that is the prevailing theory at the science academy in Neo-Meterpolis. In order to avoid this risk, I realized that whomever went back in time needed to limited their influence on the timeline as much as possible."

Batman copied Ra's action, leaning forward in his seat in interest. "How were you able to do that?"

"The factory in Erie," he replied succinctly. "I knew that you would be in that location at the time of Vandal Savage's plot to take over the United States. I sent my man to that factory and had him attached the time machine to the bomb. Because the machine needed a vast amount of energy to operate, the machine would need to use the explosive power of the Canidite to power it and transport its user to this time."

"But there wasn't another person in the factory," the vigilante was quick to point out. "I was the only one in there…"

No, that wasn't right. When he had been searching for the bomb, he had found a body outside of the office it was kept in. A body that had been killed by cyanide poisoning and wearing an outfit similar to his.

"The man I found," he suddenly spoke, which caused an approving look to appear on Ra's face. "He had taken cyanide and was dressed in a cheap knockoff version of my suit. That was your man?"

"Correct, Detective. Seeing as I was plucking you out of the time stream, the likelihood of altering something was great. So I had my man dress much like you do; I even went to the lengths of obtaining your dental records and altering his teeth to match your own. It was a painful process, I admit, but the result was that the timeline was not irrevocably altered."

Batman found himself leaning back in his chair. The level of planning Ra's had gone into was mind-numbing. Yet, a sick feeling was welling up within him. "That means I'm stuck in this future," he spoke after awhile.

"Not necessarily." Sharpening his attention on Ra's, he waited for the older man to say, "It is possible to construct another time machine, but not with the Regime present. They'll stop at nothing to keep you from returning to your present."

"What makes you say that?"

It was Ra's turn to raise an eyebrow. "They are currently in power. Their way of thinking is much like my own; if I were in their position, I would ensure that no one would take my power away from me. They are the same."

"Or, what you mean is you won't send me back unless I help you," the dark-clad man shot back.

"If you wish to view the situation this way, by all means," Ra's responded, humor laced in his voice. "It doesn't matter what you think, as of now you are stuck in this time period. To get home, you must stop the Kryptonian and his allies. Will you do this?"

Out of the corner of his eyes, Batman could see Batwoman eyeing him. A part of him only wanted to get out of this hellhole; yet, he knew in his gut that something needed to be done. He demanded it of himself.

"Now that I know all of this, why not send me back to my own time now?" he suggested. "I can make sure all of this never happens."

"A worthy suggestion, Detective. In fact, that was one of my contingencies should our current status not improve. However, all of the required technology I would need to construct another time machine is in the hands of the Regime."

Which meant if he wanted to go home, he had to help overthrow the Regime. "Then I guess I'm in," he said after a moment.

"Excellent!" Ra's then stood up from his seat, pushing his chair back with his legs. "There is much that needs to be done and so little time to do it in."

"What's our move?" Batwoman asked as she watched the Demon's Head walk around the table and towards the door.

"First, we need to create a strike team," Ra's told her. "Which means we need to recruit the last of the heroes not yet affiliated with the Regime. Once we have our team, we can move."

"Is there anyone you have in mind?"

* * *

Ra's had quite a few people in mind.

Yet, none of them interested Cassandra more than the man in front of her. Batman was diligently going over a file of someone called Mirror Master. He seemed oblivious to her stare, which she did so openly.

It had been a long time since they had fallen out of the Inner Sanctum of the Court of Owls, but she had liked to think she had known the man quite well. Now though, she realized she didn't know him at all. All of this time, he had come up with plans to take out each and every Justice League member, and not just one a piece, but dozens.

How she wished she had known that so many years ago.

He had been succinct in his explanations, about how he had come up with the countermeasures, how Ra's al Ghul had brainwashed him into using them against the then-heroes of the world, and how he had watched this alleged Immortal Man go down in the flames of an enraged Goddess. To be honest, she didn't really care about his time as an assassin; she had known he had that training from the moment she had met him. His fighting style had indicated as much.

That he had taken out the Justice League, that was huge. She could sense a turning point here. If they could use his countermeasures and neutralize the Regime, this ongoing nightmare would be over. Failing that, if they returned Batman to the past, well, he could preempt this entire thing.

She rather liked that idea.

"Why aren't you reading?" the dark-clad man asked, never once removing his eyes away from Mirror Master's profile.

"I don't need to read any of these," Cassandra answered him. In truth, she really didn't need to. These were the same files she had seen when she first joined the Bat Underground—to think it was another, how did the Bat put it, a Fang? Yes, a Fang. To think this resistance movement was another Fang for the man called the Demon's Head was shocking.

But then, Superman lobotomizing her had been shocking too.

"Then tell me who these people are," Batman ordered as he closed his file, looking up to her. Cassandra had removed her mask, seeing no need to keep it on while in his company. In fact, she wouldn't have been surprised if Ra's al Ghul knew her identity as well. The way he referred to her as Batman's protege hinted as much.

"Well, this...Mirror Master? No one's seen him in years. He's either dead, or hiding in one of his mirror universes. He's out." Cassandra even grabbed the file and tossed it aside, caring very little where it landed. "One person we need is Oliver Queen. I think you know who he is."

"We've met," he acknowledged. "I had the suspicion he was Green Arrow, but I hadn't gotten around to determining it for certain. How do you know him?"

"Aside from us working together? He had been one of Superman's loudest critics early on. Superman exposed his identity to destroy him. Queen's taken that pretty personally."

Batman's face hardened. Apparently, he was on Queen's side of that argument. Deciding to continue, she said, "He's one of the last people willing to fight the Regime until the very end. If he knows what we can do, he'll be all in."

"If you can get him in, fine." Batman then reached for another file, opening it. Cassandra just barely caught the name on the cover, a Michael Holt. "I think he's some sort of computer hacker," she informed him. The dark-clad man merely looked to another page, staring at it before closing the file.

"We'll need Holt," he said, passing the file to her, much to the dark-haired woman's surprise.

"What makes you think we can use him?" she asked, not even bothering to open the folder. "What, you think we can use him to counter Cyborg?"

"Something like that."

Cassandra didn't bother to hide her snort. Oh yeah, a computer hacker going up against the most advanced computer in the solar system and the hacker was going to win? She had a hundred-to-one odds on the cyborg. "Then you're the one to recruit him," she told him.

Batman didn't respond, merely reaching for another file. Cassandra saw the name and immediately spoke up, "That's Ted Kord; don't bother with him, he's dead."

"What were his capabilities?" he questioned, ignoring her statement as he looked into the file.

The woman blew air out of her mouth in annoyance, causing some strands of her hair to flutter in the air. "Basic martial arts, genius-level intellect. He basically was a smarter version of Dick Grayson. His last mission, he was trying to obtain some artifact that he thought would give us an edge over the Regime. Cyborg got to him at the Texas-Mexico border."

"What artifact was he after?"

"I believe it was a scarab, Detective."

Cassandra turned her head to regard Ra's al Ghul. The man had returned to the room and he was closing the door behind him. "I seem to recall wanting that artifact as well," the older man remarked.

"Elaborate."

"As I recall, it was a mystical artifact dating back to Ancient Egypt. It was said this blue scarab could grant its wielder immeasurable power. I sent an excavation team to an area that I once believed housed this artifact, but the team came back empty-handed."

Yet, Kord thought it existed? Huh, that would've come in handy.

"So, Detective, tell me who you've taken a liking to."

Batman glanced to Cassandra before returning his attention to Ra's. "Oliver Queen is a candidate. I also want to bring in Michael Holt."

Ra's started at the two. "Only two?" he questioned, a hint of disapproval in his tone.

"If I had any idea on how to get ahold of Dr. Fate, I'd include him as well," the vigilante added.

That got the man's attention. "You've come across the good doctor, I presume. He would be an excellent addition to our task force, though I believe that is nothing more than wishful thinking."

"Do you have anyone to add?"

"I do, actually, but none of them you would be inclined to work with."

Batman's face ever so slightly hardened. "Assassins."

All he received in response was a nod of confirmation. In turn, this caused Batman's eyes to narrow. Cassandra knew before the words came out of his mouth what his response would be. "Then you're right—no assassins."

"Need I remind you that we are outnumbered," Ra's pointed out. "We do not have the luxury of morality in our recruitment, not if we wish to succeed."

Cassandra looked to her mentor. His face was resolute in his resolve. "No assassins, Ra's, not if you want my cooperation."

The older man narrowed his eyes. The two stared at each other, tension mounting in the room. It was nearly suffocating. Fortunately, Ra's gave a small bow of his head. "Very well, Detective."

Feeling it was best to move this conversation along, the young woman said, "So far we've agreed on Oliver Queen and a Michael Holt for the team."

"Then you had better track down Mr. Queen," Ra's responded, any good humor absent from his face. "While I agree at his inclusion, convincing him to return will be a great task."

Realizing just what Ra's meant, Cassandra started to feel that perhaps she should've kept her mouth shut.

* * *

Sometimes it paid to be a former billionaire.

It was with tired muscles and tired bones that Ollie set his bow and quiver on the rather messy coffee table. Stacks of magazines and dirty plates covered a good chunk of the table, save for the one spot his equipment nestled into. With a weary groan he collapsed onto his couch, resting his arms on top of the cushions.

The same could be said for most of this modest apartment. Thanks to his... _sigh…_ former ownership of Queen Industries, Ollie had a rather nice nest egg up until Superman and his cronies stripped him of his company and most of his assets. While Ollie was all for paying his fair share, taking his livelihood was something else entirely.

Thankfully, he had kept some things off the books—namely his Green Arrow operation. Say what you wanted about him—and there was a lot that could be said, a good deal of it was negative—he knew how to cover his tracks and apparently it was good enough to keep the Regime from finding out about his safe houses and funds. It pained him to admit that the reason he even had some of these things was because he had been less than honest about their purchases and hoarding. Kinda put him in that same bracket as those dishonest businessmen the world over.

Still, it kept him alive, so he wasn't losing too much sleep about it.

However, there was one thing he couldn't bring with him that he was missing right about now: kitchen staff. He missed someone cooking for him, bringing him his food, cleaning up after him, the works. It was a lifestyle he had become accustomed to and that had gone away with just about everything else. Probably didn't help that he was a wanted man too—that really cut down on the number of people looking to you as a prospective employer. That meant he had to cook his own food.

Which he would do later...much, _much_ later. All he wanted to do right now was to sink into the cushions of his old, ripped up couch and maybe go into a coma. He would've liked that.

So naturally that was when company dropped by.

His first sign was the feel of a breeze blowing through the window. Considering he rarely opened the windows, that told him someone had been here, or was still here. He didn't make a sudden move since he didn't want whoever was here to know that he knew they were here. Let them make the first mistake.

"I was expecting someplace less messy."

Ollie glanced over his shoulder. Sitting on a stool by the kitchen counter was Batwoman. Yeah, she didn't look like she belonged here at all. "You know, I don't recall asking for company tonight," he told her, turning his head to stare at his blank television set. "Me and just about the rest of the world had a rough day today."

"The Red Lantern Attacks," the redhead acknowledged. "I don't suppose you know the damage done."

"Well, if you discount one pyromaniac of a meta being ripped apart, no, I really don't." This time, Ollie leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. He could still hear Volcana's screams, see the blood that flew in the air as those Red Lantern things tore her to pieces. He had seen and done a lot in his life, but that was one thing he wished he hadn't seen.

"What if I were to tell you the Watchtower is gone?"

Ollie's eyes blinked. "What do you mean gone?" he asked as he turned right back around to look at the vigilante.

"As in blown up, destroyed, no longer hovering above us like an angel of death." Batwoman paused. "Do I need to go any further?"

"No, no, I think you covered it all. What does that have to do with you breaking into my apartment?"

"Aside from the Regime's top communications hub being blown to bits, not to mention I have it on good authority that their ranks have been decimated." She then leaned forward on her stool. "I believe we have an opportunity to tear down the Regime once and for all."

Ollie stared at her before he snorted. "Yeah, it sounds good in theory, doesn't it?" he retorted. "Unfortunately for you, I was there at our last 'opportunity.' We threw everything we had into it and it ended the same way all of our other attempts did. Sorry to say this, but I'm gonna have to pass."

This didn't seem to upset the redhead, much to the blond man's surprise. In fact, he was pretty sure she was expecting this answer. What, was this some sort of courtesy call before she plunged head first into whatever insanity she was going to do?

"Tell me something," Batwoman said then. "What would you be able to do if you had foolproof plans that could take down each and every member of the Regime?"

"Take down the Regime, obviously," the archer retorted. "Now you tell me something: if you have these so-called plans, why haven't you used them yet? Could've saved everyone a whole lot of time and grief."

"That's because I only just came across these plans," she responded. "To be more precise, I found a person that has developed these plans."

"Oh, you found someone." Ollie began clapping his hands in a sardonic fashion. "Well, I hope you two crazy kids have a ball with that. Mind telling me his name? That way I know what to put on your tombstones."

That got a reaction out of the redhead as she narrowed her eyes at him. "He's not my boyfriend. He's practically my father."

"So you prefer older gentlemen. Good to know."

"You do realize I can kick your ass any time I want to, right?"

"And I'll be sure to get my licks in." Ollie gave her a look. "Now enough with the pissing contest. I'm an old guy who gets cranky when he doesn't get to bed on time."

She continued to glare at him. Then, "Whenever you're in a less frosty mood, come to the old Gotham Subway. I know you know where to go. At the very least, just come to the meeting. If we can't sell you there, feel free to walk away."

The blond man dropped the back of his head on top of the couch cushion. "Ugh, you're kidding me, Kid. What about—"

As he raised his head up, Batwoman was gone. Damn it, she pulled that stupid trick on him. If he wasn't convinced the old Batgirl was dead, he would've sworn this was her all grown up. Shifting himself on the couch, he got comfortable, leaning his head on the back of the couch again so that he could look up at the ceiling, arms crossed in front of his chest.

Despite everything that had happened, even today, that woman still kept up hope. It was admirable, but for only so long. When Jefferson had died, he was sure she was going to pack it in.

He closed his eyes. Now that he thought about it, _really_ thought about it, Batwoman wasn't one to throw herself into flights of fancy. She usually committed when she felt the cause was worthy. There were risks to be sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Wait, why did it sound like he was trying to convince himself? There was no way what she said was true. No one had been able to come up with a way to take out any of the Regime's members. Those Red Lanterns had murdered one person that he knew of and allegedly destroyed the Watchtower. He needed more proof than someone's word if he was going to stick his head out again.

Yet, what would it hurt? If this meeting had something to offer, perhaps an actual chance of freeing this world from tyranny, could he really ignore it? Could he look himself in the mirror if he knew he had set out perhaps the very last chance this world had?

Ollie sighed. No, no, he could not. He needed to see if this venture was worth the effort. If he came away with this being some sort of wishful thinking, then he was out. He couldn't fault himself for not joining a bad plan. He could if it turned out to work and he had chosen to hide in this crappy apartment and he had the chance to help.

"Ollie, you better be sure about this," he muttered to himself as he forced himself off of the couch. "You rather like living and would like to keep it that way."

Before he knew it, he had his quiver back on and bow in his hands and was at the window. Better close this up before he forgot to. There was no telling if anyone else would want to break in—you know, aside from crazy ass Bats.

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: Thanks!

To the second Guest reviewer: Thank you. AV and I have a few more stories planned, which I'll go into more detail at the conclusion of this story.


	22. The Morgue

The sound of keys typing filled the room. The only light was from a desk lamp and not much else. There was no need to alert the neighbors to what he was doing.

Michael had his eyes focused on the computer screen. Green letters and numbers upon a black background was shown from the monitor, the man scrolling upwards as he continued to enter more code. It was something to keep his mind active rather than rust away at his mind-numbing IT job. It had been a long time since he had been working on some of the most secure encryptions in the world, but the job paid the bills—and more importantly kept him off the Regime's radar.

Entering the last few keystrokes, Michael hit the enter button the let the program run. Leaning back in his chair, the cotton of his pajamas rubbing up against his skin, he watch the screen process his command, all new lines of data scrolling over his monitor.

"It's good to see you're still in practice."

Michael yelled out in surprised as he spun his chair around. There, standing in the corner of the room, was a man in black. He seemed to go in and out of the young man's vision as the shadows seemed to grow from him rather than hide him. He was only sure that there was someone else in the room due to his white eyes.

"Who are you?" he demanded as he shot out of his chair, knocking it to the floor. "How did you get in here?"

The man looked to his right, which Michael copied, finding the heavy curtains that covered the window slightly parted. The window itself was opened, allowing a gentle breeze in.

Oh, so that's how he got in.

Looking back to the man in black, he found the man had closed the distance between them, standing a few feet away. This allowed the dim light to show more of his form and reveal that he had a cape wrapped around his body. Swallowing, he reiterated, "You didn't tell me who you are."

"Batman."

Michael blinked his eyes owlishly. "Batman? Like the guy the Regime said died twenty years ago?"

"I didn't die."

Again, his eyes blinked rapidly before he snorted in derision. "You're telling me you just decided to take a twenty year break, or something? I find that hard to believe; I mean, you'd have to be in your fifties if that were the case."

"Which puts you in your forties, Mr. Terrific," the "Batman" responded.

Michael stiffened. How did he know about that? He hadn't been called that name in...well, years. Yet, he used it so casually it might as well have been his real name.

Not waiting for a response, "Batman" continued, "I understand you don't share the same beliefs as the Regime. Is that true, or am I mistaken?"

"Hey, I don't want any trouble," the dark-skinned man immediately replied, holding his hands out in front of him to placate the guy. "I gave up being Mr. Terrific a long time ago so that I didn't end up dead like the others. I'm not hurting anyone doing what I'm doing now."

He got the impression "Batman" didn't believe him. If it weren't for the mask, he would have been certain the man was raising an eyebrow at him. He then looked to his computer screen. "Mind telling me what you're doing?"

"Just checking my firewall," he defended. "See? Nothing at all."

There was a silence between them, one that made Michael uncomfortable the longer it went on. Finally, "Batman" said, "I may not be well-versed in computer code, but I know enough to know that you're not running a firewall check. In fact, the firewall isn't even yours; it belongs to a Regime garrison a couple states away."

His stomach sank. Oh shit, he had been caught. All of his efforts to remain underground had been for naught. He swallowed deeply. "H-how did you find me?"

"Your address was in the phone book," the man replied succinctly. "But I'm not here to bust you for hacking. I'm here to recruit you for hacking."

It was Michael's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Recruit me for hacking?"

"The only reason you're hacking a Regime database is to find out what happened today after an alien invasion. Most people in the Western Hemisphere were treated to an event in which a second sun appeared out of nowhere, then just as quickly disappeared. I can give you those answers without you risking yourself in a hack."

"And how do you know those answers?" Michael shot back. "Are you some kind of detective, or something?"

"Or something," the man grunted. "The choice is yours, but the Bat Underground could use your assistance in overthrowing the Regime once and for all."

Oh, this guy was a headcase. Suddenly, Michael wasn't so worried. All he had to do was run him off and he'd be alright. He was well aware of the Insurgency and their—ahem—lack of progress. "You'll have to excuse me if I find that boast to be highly unbelievable. I've heard claims like that before and the Regime still stands. What makes you think this time will be any different?"

The man in black leaned towards him, his eyes seeming to bore right into Michael's soul. "Because I've beaten them before. Your help will be greatly appreciated, but I won't force you to come. The choice is yours: let the world forever be under dictatorial rule, or do something about it."

Huh, well, if you put it that way…

Again, they were both silent, but eventually it was Michael who broke it. "Let me get my suit."

* * *

Between the time Batman had read case files on prospective teammates and arriving with Michael Holt in tow, the room where Ra's had explained his plot had been changed.

The table was new, along with more comfortable chairs. A large, round table with a white tablecloth draped over it was situated right in the middle of the room. High-back chairs had replaced the old plastic ones. Ra's had gone out of his way to make the place more professional and presentable.

There were five of them here. At the side towards the far wall sat Ra's. Circling to his left was Holt, who sat stiffly in his chair. He had changed his appearance since Batman met him in his pajamas. He had a black and white jacket on, red outlining the hem. That shielded the black bodysuit he wore underneath it.

Next to him was Batman, keeping himself at attention as he surveyed the room. Batwoman was next to him, also keeping her posture straight. The vigilante half-expected it was because of his presence she did this, but perhaps that was how she normally sat. He hadn't missed how she seemed to carry herself taller, straighter when he was around her.

And lastly came Green Arrow, or Queen as everyone had referred to him. He hadn't changed his color scheme much, though the armor had slight differences to the one he had seen during his Man-Bat investigation. He had gotten rid of his Robin Hood hat, allowing his blond hair to be viewed by all. Out of all of them, he was slouching in his seat.

"I would like to thank all of you who have come," Ra's began. "I'm sure you are all familiar with those present, so introductions are not necessary."

"That's partly true," Queen replied, turning his chair to face the older man. "Actually, I only really know one person here and that's Batwoman. You, the other Bat guy, and the guy with the T painted on his face I can't say I've met."

Indeed, Holt had a black T on his face. Whether it was a mask or paint, it really didn't matter. "I'm Mr. Terrific," he introduced himself.

"Is that what the T stands for? Great, what makes you so terrific?"

"Mr. Holt is one of the remaining premier hackers not in the employ of, or incarcerated by, the Regime," Ra's explained. "Which makes him the top hacker in the world."

"Great, perfect. Now how about you?"

The older man tilted his head back haughtily. "I am Ra's al Ghul and I have been the sole financier of the Bat Underground."

Queen perked his head up at this. "So you're the one I have to thank for some of my toys. By the way, thanks for that." Finally, he swung his chair around to look at the Dark Knight. "And you...I've seen you before."

At this, he pulled out a folded piece of paper and unfolded it. "I picked this up on the way here, but this is all over the place if you know where to look. You're the guy the Regime wants for looking like Batman—big mistake dressing up like him for your information. They want you dead on sight."

Batman held his hand out to the archer, who slid the paper to him. Picking it up, the vigilante gazed at the wanted poster. It seemed there were a lot of people that were under the assumption he was an imposter.

Batwoman leaned forward in her seat. "Queen, this is Batman. The original."

The blond man looked to her, then back to him. "And how do you know that? Didn't he die?"

"I'd like to know the answer to that as well," Holt muttered.

"Because I know who he is under the mask," she answered them both, glancing between the two. "And this is him. There's a long story involved, but I can assure you it's him."

As Batman recalled, Queen wasn't one to be swayed so easily. He was going to need more proof than that. "The first time we met," he began, causing everyone to look to him, "you shot an arrow at me. I made it quite clear not to do that again."

"There are a lot of people I shoot arrows at," Queen dismissed. "I don't recall shooting one at a guy dressed like a bat."

The curt reply didn't faze Batman in the slightest. "We met again before Harvey Dent blew up City Hall. I distinctly recall telling you and Black Canary to stay out of it. That episode ended with the three of us fighting a half-crocodile man in the sewers." This time he could see Queen's face pale with every word he said. "Do you need me to prove myself further?"

It took the man a moment before he swore, "Jesus, it really is you. How are you here? I mean, we all thought you were dead for real! What, did you decided to go on an extended holiday or something?"

"Short story, time travel," he grunted back.

"Oh. Of course, time travel. Couldn't be anything else."

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way," Ra's interrupted, his voice demanding everyone's undivided attention. "We are all here to see that Superman and his Regime are overthrown. For those of you who are unaware, there was an attack in the early hours of day, which resulted in the annihilation of the Kryptonian's army, the loss of several lieutenants, and the destruction of the Watchtower. The Regime is currently at their lowest point in years."

"So it's true," Queen murmured as he straightened himself out in his chair, leaning forward so that his arms could rest on the table. He then looked to Batwoman. "And you mentioned someone having plans on how to take out the rest of them, right?"

"That is correct," Ra's answered for her. "The one you call Batman is in possession of those plans."

"I can confirm countermeasures on at least four members," Batman acknowledged. "Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. Plans for the others are currently in progress."

"I thought you said there were plans for _all_ of them," Queen accused Batwoman.

"I created the original plans before the founding of the Justice League," Batman was quick to reply. "And I continued to make them right until my disappearance. The heroes that appeared after that are unknown to me, and thus do not have countermeasures."

Queen stared at him before slowly nodding his head. "I guess that makes sense." He then sighed. "So that leaves Cyborg, Shazam, Aquaman, and Enchantress to deal with."

"I have intelligence on those members," Ra's said then. "I believe between the Detective and myself, we can come up with countermeasures to neutralize them as well."

"That's great," Holt responded. "But we're still at an advantage. There's only five of us and a minimum of eight members of the Regime. We need more people for an operation like this."

"Or at the very least some damn good weapons," Queen added.

"Which brings us to our next order of business," the Demon's Head stated. "Before we can make our move against the Regime, there are two objectives that must be completed. One involves one of the company's responsible for the pills known as 5-U-93-R. I have managed to discover one of their factories belongs to Stagg Industries. We need to procure some of these pills for our own forces.

"The second objective involves an ancient artifact known as the Scarab. Our intel indicates that the late-Ted Kord had been in pursuit of this artifact up until his death. I have done some intensive research on this scarab and I believe that if we were to obtain it, it would assist in our battles with Shazam, or Enchantress."

"So, we're either stealing more green pills, or looking for some magical bug," Queen summed up, once again leaning back in his chair, rubbing a hand beneath his chin. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I call dibs on the pills."

"I'll go with you," Batwoman spoke up then. "It'd be best if we all had some backup on this."

"Which leaves me and Batman to find the Scarab," Holt said as he turned to face the vigilante. "How do you want to go about this?"

"Searching the area where Kord was killed will be necessary," Batman replied. "According to his file, that was in El Paso, Texas, correct?"

Ra's nodded. "Correct, Detective."

"So we're both heading to Texas," Holt said.

Batman shook his head. "No, I need you to examine Kord's body. See if you can't find some evidence he had this Scarab on his person."

"Uh, excuse me?" Queen interjected then. "Ted's body is being held at the Hall of Justice, like all of the people the Regime's killed. They're kinda sick that way. You want Mr. T here to break into the Hall, do...I don't know, an autopsy on Ted, and get out without anyone knowing he's been there?"

Batman, Batwoman, and Ra's all glanced to each other before they looked at the archer. "That's right," the Dark Knight answered for them.

Queen looked between the three, blinking his eyes in disbelief before realizing they weren't joking. He then sagged his shoulders in surrender. "Oh, well, I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page."

"Are you sure I can do something like that?" Holt questioned then, causing everyone to look to him. "Look, I want to help, but I don't want to get killed doing it."

"I have the utmost faith in you that you can," Batman told him. "You have all the necessary skills to do this—use them."

"All...alright."

"Which leaves me and Queen," Batwoman stated then. "Where is this Stagg factory?"

"Fortunately, not as far as El Paso," Ra's answered her. "They have a facility in New York. If you need transportation, I can provide that for you."

"We'll need it," Queen spoke up. "My Arrowmobile is still wrecked from the time Green Lantern tried to smash it with a giant hammer." He looked wistful at that. "Not one of my better days," he admitted.

"Next question," Holt said, trying to steer the conversation back on topic. "How long do we have to complete our missions?"

"Tomorrow night," Ra's informed them. "The longer we wait to strike is time for the Regime to rebuild their defenses. We have a short timetable before we must attack. As for you, Mr. Holt, I recommend completing your portion tonight. Most of the Regime will be away from the Hall, leaving one, perhaps two Regime members." Upon seeing Holt nod his acceptance, he continued, "Hopefully, these missions do not catch their attention, so they can continue to divert their energies elsewhere. Remember, our world is at stake and if we lose this, there will be no coming back."

All of them were silent after that, at least until Queen muttered, "Can't get more dramatic than that."

* * *

The Hall of Justice was one of the most guarded locations in the world. It had nothing to do with basic security so much as everything to do with who resided there.

The place Mr. Terrific was heading was technically their basement. Though he had never seen it personally, the place most enemy combatants were kept was called the Morgue. It was located under the east wing of the building.

And it was here the T-faced man was located. He had found a security terminal right outside the west wing entrance. A patrol had passed by a couple minutes ago, part of a seven minute patrol route. It was normally ten, but after the Red Lantern invasion, the Regime wasn't taking any chances. Were it not for the decimation of their soldier ranks, Terrific was pretty sure the patrol route would be five, or even three minutes.

The less than five minutes he had now were more than enough for him. For a place that had its security encrypted by a cyborg, it was actually pretty easy for him to hack through. He hadn't even needed to bring out his full array of hacking skills; instead he had taken out a small device he had designed long ago to bypass basic security systems. After loosening the computer panel and attacking a couple wires to his device, it had taken perhaps an entire minute before the encryption was broken. Just for a frame of reference, it took ten seconds for your standard home security.

To be honest, if the device took sixty seconds, he could've halved that time if he did a standard hack. However, he had another reason for using his device. Right now he was downloading a schematic of the Hall of Justice so that he could be in and out with as much efficiency as possible. Knowing the layout would help him keep out of sight of any patrols inside the building, not to mention the location of the security cameras, though they were less of a concern. Keeping his eyes on a small screen, he waited for a blueprint to appear.

And appear it did. Twenty seconds down, he had tops four minutes to fix his mess and get inside before the next patrol. With the thumb and index finger of his left hand, he took hold of a knob and began twisting it up and down, moving the blueprint up and down as he studied the diagram.

Hmm, it seemed there were multiple ways to get to the Morgue. The closest was five doors down from the west wing entrances. _Hmmm…_

He scrolled through the map again, eying the other entrances—and potential exits—before he was satisfied with what he saw. He then saved the blueprint to his device before he accessed a program he had been running since he initially hacked the system. The program in question automatically linked into the CCTV system and recorded a solid minute of surveillance footage. Tapping a few buttons, he usurped the security system's recording program and inserted the footage. Until he disabled it, the same sixty seconds would repeat on loop perpetually.

Disconnecting his hacking device from the terminal and fixing the panel, Terrific then opened the door and slipped in. By his watch, he had ninety seven seconds left—perfect.

Because it was night, the lights within the Hall were dim. There were patrols in here as well, ones that took longer to perform than the ones outside. Still, he had about three minutes to get to the door he wanted, or he needed to take cover somewhere. Doing his best to hurry while minimizing the sound of his footsteps against the marble flooring, Terrific mentally counted the doors until he reached the fifth one on his left. Grabbing the doorknob, he turned it and found it unlocked thankfully. Opening the door and slipping through it, he was careful to close it as quietly as he could.

The room Terrific found himself in was dark. Pulling out a flashlight, he turned it on and saw a small room, one with an elevator to his right, a door to a stairwell to his left. He went for the door, opening it and immediately going down the stairs. There was no point in using the elevator when it could potentially trap him, not to mention having to hack into the elevator's security camera and putting its recording on loop as well. He had some time, but not that much.

Reaching the bottom, Terrific opened the door and found what would was best characterized as a short hallway. It was short because it was only long enough for a set of elevators to cover one wall. To his left, the hallway opened up into a much larger room.

 _Dear God..._

Terrific had heard of plenty of heroes being killed when they went up against the Regime, but this was insanity. An entire wall was dedicated to small, square freezer doors. About midway, a portion of the wall made ninety degree turns, leading to another room beyond that that was composed of these doors. There was no telling if all of these little freezer were occupied, but the very sight of it sickened him.

How could he have allowed this to go on?

Shaking himself out of those dark thoughts, Terrific quickly located a computer station and went right for it. Turning it on, he accessed the registry and put in a search for Ted Kord. It took a minute before he received results. _B-2,_ he memorized.

Turning away from the computer he walked towards the freezer doors, finding the first section he had seen to be the A section. Moving down the wall until he reached the turn, he found the B section on the left side of the small There were three rows of these doors stretching as far as they could go until they reached the next wall's turn. It didn't take much imagination to figure that Kord's freezer would be one of three leftmost freezers and right in the middle. He was right as he saw the top one marked 1, the middle 2, and the bottom 3. It also helped that Kord's name was right in the middle of the door.

Unlocking it and pulling on the handle, the door swung open, revealing a rolling gurney. Grabbing it, he pulled it out, revealing the very blue, preserved body of Ted Kord. He was still dressed in his Blue Beatle suit—at least what was left of it; his body was covered with burns and other unhealed injuries—an honor Terrific hadn't been expecting. However, his utility belt and gadgets were missing, so it stood to reason they were kept somewhere else, probably an evidence locker, or armory.

However, he wouldn't go there unless he had to. Pulling out a hand-held scanner, he activated it and started the program to scan Kord's body. A green light flashed over Kord, forming a grid of squares all over him. A long beam of light then moved from foot to head, scanning the body. Once it was done, the light disappeared.

Patiently, Terrific waited. He wanted to make sure that if there was something to be found, he would see it immediately. If the results came back empty, then he'd have to go search for the armory, something he really, _really_ didn't want to do. Sneaking in here was pretty easy, if not nerve-wracking; trying to get into a vault that housed all sorts of weapons and equipment would be a hell of a lot harder.

There was a sharp _beep_ that alerted him to a finding. Looking at it, Terrific frowned. According to this, there was a radioactive signature detected. It wasn't your standard uranium, or plutonium; in fact, he would say it was pretty unique.

Apparently, Kord had found something.

* * *

One by one, Cyborg flexed his fingers. One by one, they curled into his palm until he had formed a fist. All at once they uncurled until they stood straight. Repeated, he made a fist with his hand, sometimes moving his fingers all at once, other times one at a time and with different patterns.

So far, his repairs were going as planned.

With the circuitry and inner mechanics fixed and a new coat of armor in place, Cyborg felt he was back in business. It had been the first thing he had done upon arriving at the Motor City plant. If something came up—which it would undoubtedly do since they were heroes—he needed to be back at one hundred percent.

Now that he was fully repaired, it was time to get to work. Getting up from the chair in front of his work bench, the mechanical man walked to a computer terminal and began accessing his Tornado project. Immediately, a schematic of a robotic body appeared. When he had last been working on it, he had been trying to iron out some bugs to its weapon systems. Because of his own tech, he could perform an infinite amount of simulations in a matter of seconds and each simulation had shown issues with that system. It could move, it could punch, it could kick, the operation systems were a go, yet he couldn't figure out why the weapons systems were still glitchy.

It was about time to figure out why.

An alarm went off in his head then, which caused him to roll his human eye. Right, it was time to do a quick check on the Hall of Justice. Wonder Woman was all sorts of paranoid right now and was demanding quite a bit out of their reduced ranks. He didn't blame her considering she personally saw two of their comrades die, one of whom was Raven...

 _Rachel…_

Victor paused. They had come a long way since their fateful meeting at that truck stop. He had been a runaway from his father and the same with her. Part of him couldn't believe she was gone now; didn't want to believe it.

Damn it, Rachel, why did you have to die?

Cyborg's human face twisted with grief for a moment before he shook his head. No, he needed to get out of his melancholy. There was too much to do right now to get caught up in it and Superman needed him to restock their ranks. That's what Rachel would want.

For now, he needed to do his check. Accessing the Hall's security system, he began searching through all of the CCTV cameras, locating the patrols where he expected them to be.

 _Wait a second._ Cyborg frowned. One of the cameras was acting odd. From one camera, he could see a patrol heading to the next sector, but then the next camera didn't pick them up. Accessing the camera, he quickly found its recording program, which caused him to scowl.

Someone had tampered with it.

"Cyborg to all points, come in," he immediately activated his comm.

There were a few seconds before he got multiple call ins. Unfortunately, they weren't the ones he wanted.

 _"_ _Kinda busy, Cyborg,"_ John grunted to him. _"I'll call back later."_

 _"_ _You're gonna have to wait, buddy,"_ Enchantress responded. _"Getting kids out of a collapsed building at the moment, thank you."_

 _"_ _Can this wait?"_ Wonder Woman asked him.

Well, if they were going to be like that.

"Never mind, guys," Cyborg told them before shutting down his comm link. They were all clearly busy and he was the only that could put what he was doing on hold.

So be it.

* * *

Batman got the call as he stood in the middle of a vacant lot.

 _"_ _Batman, it's Terrific,"_ Mr. Terrific called to him.

"This is Batman, go," he answered.

 _"_ _I've just left the Hall of Justice. I managed to do a scan on Ted Kord's body and found some sort of radioactive signature. I'm not positive on what caused it, but I'm certain that whatever it was has a long half-life considering it's still lingering on his body after so long."_

Batman raised a hand to his gauntlet, hitting a button that changed the view of his lens. He was going for an ultraviolet setting, one that would pick up on the presence of bodily fluids. He got that and more as he detected a large area that glowed brightly before him. "Do you think Kord found the Scarab?" he asked as he kneeled down next to the spot.

 _"_ _Possibly, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure of any relic that can leave a marking like this."_

"Is there anyway you can send that signature to me?" the vigilante asked then. "I'll see if I can't find a corresponding signature here."

Here happened to be El Paso. After their group had split up from the Gotham Subway, he saw no reason not to head to El Paso to being his part of the investigation. He'd be here for at least the next day anyways if he was to keep up with the agreed upon timetable.

 _"_ _I can do you one better,"_ Terrific told him. _"Thank God I brought my laptop with me. I'm currently accessing a satellite, a favorite of mine from Wayne Enterprises. I'm inputting the signature I've detected and seeing if I can't find any similar ones."_

"Are you doing this in the Hall of Justice?" he was quick to ask. If so, Terrific needed to be quick about this. He was putting himself at great risk with every passing second he was there.

 _"_ _No, left that place once I picked up on the signature. I'm in my car right now_ — _and I've got results."_ A pause. _"According to this, I've got a couple locations. One is some place in Central Mexico; the other is...let me zoom in here."_ Another pause. _"I could be mistaken, but I've got a hit approximately at the Texas-Mexico border."_

"Which means Kord definitely found something, most likely the Scarab," Batman surmised. "I'm going to send you my current coordinates. See if you can't triangulate with the possible site at the border."

 _"_ _You got it, Batman."_

The Dark Knight returned his attention to the ground before him. Assuming Kord had obtained the Scarab, he had died right here upon re-entering the country. Again, that was assuming that big fluorescent spot wasn't made recently. The ultraviolet lighting revealed fluids such as semen and blood and he knew the shape of a blood pool when he saw one.

Unfortunately, Batman had the feeling that whatever Kord had on his person had been taken as evidence by the Regime, so it was locked away somewhere else. If they were to get their hands on it, they were going to have to break in and get it.

That was just the sort of luck they had going for them.

* * *

To Guest: Something going down in El Paso, I'd imagine lol


	23. The Scarab's Host

Happy New Years everyone! As mentioned by AV, _Of Earth and Sky_ is not posting today, but we aren't staring the new year without another post. _Of Earth and Sky_ will resuming posting on Friday. Until then, hope y'all enjoy!

* * *

Someone had come to the Morgue.

Staring at all of the freezers, Cyborg was scanning the room with his robotic eye. So far he hadn't come across any evidence someone had been here, at least visibly. It was as if no one had even been down here.

The one clue he had going for him was that the computer terminal had been accessed. Right now the computer was booting up so that he could check the history.

As his scan came up empty, the mechanical man then accessed the security protocols. When there was a room that wasn't being used, a grid of lasers were activated to ensure that room wouldn't be used as an entry point by trespassers. Cyborg frowned when the program told him that no one had been done here. No alarms had gone off, none of the laser beams had been broken. Yet, his limited access to the computer down here told him it had been on within the hour.

What the hell was going on here?

With the computer finally on, Cyborg accessed it remotely, pulling up the computer's history. The last entry was...the registry. So someone had been looking for someone, so who? Accessing the registry, he stiffened at the last name searched.

Ted Kord.

Cyborg clenched his fist. Alright, he was getting mad now. Somehow, someway, someone had diverted the security cams, entered the Morgue, went undetected, and got access to one of the remains here. That should have been impossible—no, it was impossible.

Moving through the Morgue, Cyborg went straight to Kord's freezer, scanning the door briefly and coming away empty-handed again. No fingerprints, no thermal readings, nothing. Opening the freezer, he pulled the gurney out and looked at the former Blue Beetle.

Well, the guy didn't look much different from the last time he had seen him.

Again, he performed a scan, seeking something, anything that could tell him why someone wanted to find Kord. It was obvious he was the key to all of this.

And then he found something. It was actually surprising considering the scan that actually picked up something was the one designed for radioactivity. Had he been wanting to look for, say, a nuclear warhead, it would be this scan he'd run. Since when did Kord have something radioactive on her person? He didn't when they met in El Paso.

Immediately, Cyborg began searching the net for a satellite, one that was over the western hemisphere, preferably North America. Finding one, he gained access to it and had it run a scan of the entire North American continent. He wanted to see where else this signature would pop up.

It took a few minutes, but he managed to get a few hits. One location was obviously here; another was in Mexico, and another was…

 _Well, I'll be damned. El Paso._ No doubt, whoever broke in here was going there. Far be it for Cyborg not to meet them there.

* * *

Mr. Terrific had come through. It had taken some time, but he had managed to obtain a location of one of the radioactive signatures he had discovered.

A soft breeze blew through Batman's cape as he perched on top of a house. He was looking to one across the street, which had its lights still on. According to Terrific, a signature was in there. Part of Batman was dubious of that claim, but then he wasn't the one looking at the computer screen as Terrific was. If it turned out to be wrong, then so be it.

The lights in the house turned off. It seemed the residents were finally turning in. Opening his cape, he parachuted down, landing lightly on the grass below. Without making a sound, he approached the house, crossing the street and reaching the front lawn of his target.

His first impulse was to try and open a window, but that plan was scrapped the moment he saw the burglar bars. No doubt the rest of the windows had them as well. That meant he needed to go through either the front or back door. Heading right for the front door, he pulled out his lock pick set and prepared to pick the lock.

At least, that was his plan. Before he so much as grabbed the doorknob, the door swung open and a teenage boy stood right in front of him. For a moment, both of them stared at each other, Batman was a stunned look, the boy with his eyes wide open.

Then the boy opened his mouth.

Before a sound came out, Batman clamped a hand over his mouth even as he grabbed the boy by the shoulder and pulled him out of the house. Shoving him up against the wall, he heard muffled cries from the teen as he struggled against him.

"That's enough," he growled, which momentarily froze the boy with fear. "I'm not going to hurt you. I have a couple questions I need you to answer for me. Can you do that?"

The boy seemed to consider this before he slowly nodded. "I'm going to remove my hand," Batman told him then, "and when I do, don't scream. If you do, I will knock you out. Understood?"

He received another nod. Cautiously, he removed his hand, the teen doing as he promised. "What's your name?" he asked, softening his own voice. Growling and barking did many things, especially to terrified people. It was one thing to use that fear to get information out of scumbags; it was entirely different to get it from a scared kid.

"Jaime Reyes, Sir," the boy answered him quickly. "I promise, I wasn't going to go out, Sir. I was just going to get the mail from the mailbox. That's all."

So this Jaime thought he was a cop about to bust him for a curfew violation. "Don't worry about that for now. I need to know if you've been in a vacant lot over by Chavez and 1st."

Jaime perked his head up at that. "Yes, Sir. My friends and I pass through that lot all the time."

"Did you ever come across anything there? I'm specifically looking for an object shaped like a bug, a scarab to be specific."

"Is that yours?" the Hispanic boy asked quickly. "I didn't know, I swear. I just found it there yesterday. Thought it might be...uhhh, is it valuable? Do you know?"

"Possibly. Show it to me."

"It's in my backpack in my room," Jaime told him, jerking his thumb towards his front door. "Do you want me to bring it to you or—"

"I'll go in with you," Batman said quickly. Without waiting for a reply, he pushed the boy towards the door, the two of them slipping into the house. Once the door was closed—carefully, he was quickly to note, by the boy—they headed for what turned out to be a bedroom. Jaime turned on a light and confirmed as much, the posters of wrestlers and sports stars decorating the walls. This must be his room.

Jaime took a seat on his bed and hauled his backpack up onto his lap. The main zipper was already open and he began to dig a hand inside. It took a moment before the teen frowned, moving his other hand to hold the flap open. "Dios mio," he swore as he began to frantically search the backpack, nearly shoving his head in as well. "Where did it go? I put it right in here."

He then jerked his head up and looked at Batman apologetically. "I put it right in here, Sir, but for some reason it's not there anymore. I don't understand it…" he trailed off before something occurred to him. "Milagro better not have been in here."

"Milagro?" the vigilante questioned.

"My little sister," he explained, "she likes to go through my stuff when I'm not here. Sometimes she even sneaks in when I'm asleep. I'll go check with her."

Suddenly, there was movement across the bed. It was out of the corner of Batman's eye and that was all that alerted him to it. By the time he focused on the bed, he didn't see anything. Perhaps it was a trick of the eyes?

Jaime suddenly stiffening as he yelped told him that wasn't the case. "Ay! Mi espalda!" he cried out, reaching one arm over his shoulder, while the other slid around his side, trying to reach a spot on his back. Immediately, Batman went to the boy and turned him to a side, pulling up his shirt by the hem.

And right on his back was a large, blue bug. It was larger than any bug he had ever seen and if he wasn't mistaken, it looked like a scarab to him; at least, it match the descriptions of it that he knew of.

"What is it? Do you see something?" Jaime demanded fearfully.

"I think we found the bug," Batman informed him, kneeling down so that he could get a better look at it. Was this what he saw move across the bed? It probably was, though he couldn't be too sure. Still, it was a relic, right? It shouldn't have been able _to_ move.

Reaching a hand up, he pressed his palm against it, fingers curling around the sides. Once he was sure he had a decent grip on it, he said, "I'm going to try to pull it off." Then he did so.

The Scarab didn't come off.

In fact, it seemed like it was stuck to Jaime's back. Not letting his first attempt get to him, he began to pull harder, eliciting a hiss from the teenager. He continued to pull as best he could until Jaime shouted at him, "Stop! Just stop!" He even shot off the bed and away from him. "Dios mio!"

"I didn't get it off," Batman said, slowly standing up on his feet.

"Yeah! I got that!" Jaime pulled his shirt down. "What's going on here? Why is this thing attached to me? And why do you want it so—"

The sound of a door opening reached their ears, causing the boy to turn to his own door. Quickly, Batman moved to the closet, one that was stuffed with dirty clothes and boxes. Shoving himself inside, he closed one of the doors as best as he could and remained absolutely still.

The bedroom door was flung open. "Jaime!" an older woman's voice shouted, most likely his mother. "Do you know what time it is? What are you doing up this late?"

"Nothing, Mama," Jaime told her, sounding tense. "I was just talking…" He stopped for some reason before continuing, "I mean, I fell out of bed."

"So you tried to wake up the entire house because you fell out?" A sigh. "Jaime, Milagro is sleeping. You know how she gets when she doesn't get enough sleep, si? Now go back to bed."

"Yes, Mama."

The door closed then, followed by Jaime sighing. Batman slowly pushed the closet door open and stepped out, moving behind the boy. When the teen turned around, he jumped as he let out a sharp yelp. "How did you...where did you go?" he stammered out.

So, his pause was because he was looking to him to explain his situation. That wasn't going to be happening. "You need to come with me," he said instead. "We need to figure out how to get that scarab off of you."

"Scarab? Is that what bit me?"

"Yes."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I can't go. I mean, you heard my mom. I'm supposed to be in bed."

Batman just stared at him.

"It's not like I can disappear, you know. My mom will freak if she finds out I'm not here in the morning."

He continued to stare.

"What do you want me to do? Write her a note to say I left early to go to a friend's house? That I'll be staying there for a few days?"

Batman slowly nodded.

"Oh. I guess I'll write that note."

Jaime reached into his backpack, this time pulling out a blue notebook. Opening it to a random page, he snatched a pencil from on top of his dresser and scribbled out a note. "Went...to...Paco's…" he murmured as he wrote. "Spending...night...love...you…"

He then paused before looking up to the vigilante. "Umm, I'm not sure sure she'd going to believe this," he said. "I mean, there's curfew and she'll freak if she thinks I left in the middle of the night."

"When does she get up?"

"Early, Sir. Except...she doesn't work tomorrow. She might sleep in, but not much."

"Then you left for breakfast at your friend's."

"Oh, that might work." Jaime scribbled "for breakfast" onto the note. "Okay, it's done. I'll just put this on the table and we can leave."

The boy then stood up and headed for the door, Batman silently following him. The two made their way to the living room, coming to the dining room next to it. Jaime placed his note on the table before turning around, jumping at the sight of the Dark Knight. Batman was unfazed as he moved for the front door, opening it and waited for the teen to exit. He made sure to lock the door before closing it behind them.

"Okay, so now where?" Jaime asked.

Before he could answer, a thunderous _BOOM_ rang out, startling the two. In the middle of the street, a bright light appeared, seeming to radiate towards them. Each of the squinted their eyes as they stared at it, arms hovering by their foreheads to help shield from the excess light.

A figure appeared in the middle of it then, walking towards them until it came to stand on the pavement. The light immediately vanished, leaving the figure looking towards them. It looked like a man to Batman, most of which seemed to be metal in nature. Half of his face was of an African-American and he was staring the two down.

"Oh shit," Jaime swore, trembling next to the dark-clad man. "It's Cyborg."

So this was Cyborg. He was bigger than he thought he would be.

Apparently, Cyborg had no trouble recognizing him. "So the Bat-imposter is here," he stated as he casually took a step towards them, then another. "You were the one to sneak into the Hall, weren't you? Mind telling me why you're here and what it involves with Ted Kord?"

Batman didn't answer, taking a defensive stance as both of his hands hid beneath his cape. He slowly moved them to open a couple pouches, ready to send shuriken and smoke pellets flying at a moment's notice.

"Cat got your tongue?" the mechanical man taunted then. "That's alright; you're lucky the High Councilor wants you taken in alive, though he won't mind dead if there's no other choice. So I'll leave it to you: come quietly, or I'm gonna have to put the beat down on you."

"Sir, I think I want to go back inside," Jaime whimpered.

Batman deliberately put himself before the boy. "Front door is locked," he murmured to the frightened teen. "Find another way inside, or find some place to hide."

"Y-yes, Sir."

"Don't you dare take another step," Cyborg suddenly warned them, taking a threatening step towards them. He deliberately stood at a side to them as he held his nearest forearm up in front of him. "I've got some questions for you too, Kid."

Then right before his Batman's eyes, the arm changed. Parts expanded out before sliding to sides, each one going in a different direction. What had once been a hand and forearm became a cannon, one the cyborg pointed right at the vigilante. "You've got three seconds to surrender. One…"

"Yaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

The scream had been so suddenly that both men jumped, Cyborg keeping where he was at while Batman darted to a side. It had come right behind him, which left only one person as its source.

Jaime had collapsed to his knees, both of his hands frantically scratching his back. "Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" he cried out as he writhed in pain.

Then out of nowhere, a flowing blue and black fluid began covering him. It started from his back and appearing over his shoulders before pouring down his arms and chest. More began to wrap itself around his waist and hips, dripping down his legs. "Help me!" Jaime shrieked as the fluid covered his head and face.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Cyborg exclaimed.

And naturally, that's when Jaime's mother opened the door.

"What is with all of the—!" she demanded as she flung the door open, stopping at the sight of Cyborg, Batman, and whatever had become of Jaime. Her face paled at the sight of them.

And then the fluid on Jaime began to hardened. What looked like blue and black armor formed, the blue gathering at his chest and legs. The black centered around his arms, legs, and abdomen. There was something else too forming, specifically from the boy's back, or so Batman could see from where he stood.

What they were, he couldn't say, but they looked like horns of some kind. He wasn't sure what the purpose was, but until proven otherwise, he assumed there was one.

The last changes occurred with the teen's face. It became completely black as blue symbol-like designs formed around his eyes. A line formed on the lower part of the face before opening, white teeth appearing as the hole open and closed. It was a mouth, the dark-clad man realized, and the boy was using it to pant.

"What's happening...to me…?" he asked out loud, his orange eyes looking down at himself.

Batman had to admit, that was a pretty damn good question.

And then suddenly, Jaime was on his feet. "I'm...moving!" he exclaimed before he took a few steps towards Cyborg. "But I'm not moving. Something's moving me!"

His right arm jerked up as he came to stand on the road, his arm beginning to change. Instead of shifting into a different configuration like Cyborg, the forearm and hand seemed to melt before reforming, changing into a small, thinner arm cannon. "How is this happening? What is happening?!" Jaime freaked out.

A blue light glowed from the end of his cannon, just before a blast of blue energy fired right at Cyborg. It had been so sudden and flew through the air so quickly that the mechanical man wasn't able to defend himself, the blast slamming right into him and lifting him right off the ground, carrying him away.

Cyborg cried out as he was forced through the air until he slammed into the face of the house on the other side of the street. It was then the beam stopped, leaving him pressed into the center of a spider's web of cracks that marred the front of the house.

Unfortunately, the cyborg didn't stay that way. A scowl was on the man's face as he pressed his hand and cannon against the broken bricks, pushing against them until he removed himself from the wall, dropping heavily onto the lawn below him. "Now you're gonna get it," he threatened as he began approaching Jaime.

"Hey, I didn't mean to do anything!" the teen cried out. "I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Good." Cyborg stopped his walking, turning so that he could aim his arm cannon right at Jaime. "Because I'm gonna do all the hurting."

Immediately, Batman turned and ran towards the Reyes' front door. He dove forward, tackling Jaime's mother to the floor, just before the mechanical man fired his blast. He grunted as they hit the wood paneling of the floor, just as a blinding yellow light flooded through the open door.

"What's happening?!" the woman screamed in his face, her arms gripping tightly to him. "What's going on? Why is this happening?"

Batman tilted his head up, looking through the doorway. He could just make out Jaime's form, leaning forward, the front leg bent at the knee, the back straight and bracing him against sliding backwards. Cyborg's yellow blast was pressed up against him, but wasn't overpowering him.

Immediately, he looked to the mother. "Is there anyone else in the house?" he demanded.

Fearfully, she nodded. "My children."

"How old?"

"M-my boy is seventeen a-and my girl is nine."

"Get the girl, I'll get your boy. Go out the back and keep going. I'll make sure your boy gets back to you."

"Where? How?!"

Batman steeled his face. "You have my word. Now go."

Slowly, she nodded her head before she released her hold on him, the vigilante doing the same. She got onto her feet and scrambled down the hallway to get her daughter. Forcing himself up, Batman approached the doorway, pressing a hand against the door frame. This gave him a better view of the struggle.

The beam faded away then, leaving Jaime still standing. With the energy blast gone, Jaime's arms became visible, revealing they were no longer actual arms. In fact, they had merged together and formed a large shield. Smoke was wafting up from it, even as the weaponized boy leaned back to straighten his posture out, his arms separating and reforming hands.

The next thing either of them knew, Cyborg was damn near on top of Jaime, tackling him like an all-state football player. He must have used his energy blast to hide his approach, the vigilante realized. The two hit the ground, Jaime on his back as he skidded down the pavement and up onto the sidewalk. The moment they stopped on the walkway to the house, Cyborg raised a fist up before slamming it down over and over on the teen's face.

Pulling out his grapple, Batman went running towards the two, jumping over them head first as he swung his legs up. In mid flip he fired the grapple onto Cyborg's back, the claw grabbing hold immediately. Holding the trigger, more and more cable came out of the grapple gun as the dark-clad man completed his flip, finally releasing it to let it tighten. One hand holding onto the gun with the other reached out and grabbed onto the cable, Batman pulled with all his might to a side, pulling the mechanical man off his opponent.

Pivoting on the back of his feet, Batman grunted as he began to swing Cyborg through the air, swinging him right into the base of a tree in the front yard. The tree shook from the collision as the mechanical man dropped to the ground, seemingly dazed.

Hitting the retraction button, the grapple began dragging Cyborg towards the vigilante, the man picking up speed with every foot he covered. Timing it right, Batman drew a leg back before swinging it, the toe of his boot slamming right into his foe's face. The blow caused his head to stop, while the rest of his body kept moving forward due to momentum. This, in turn, caused him to go flipping head over feet over and over until he landed on the ground.

However, it seemed the mechanical man was faster to recover than expected. Though he had landed on his stomach, he pushed himself with an arm, holding his arm cannon out and pointed right at the Dark Knight. Before he could even move, Cyborg fired a blast, one that hit Batman right in the solar plexus and sent him flying backwards through the air., the dark-clad man losing his grip on the grapple. He cried out the moment his back hit the tree, gravity dropping him back to the ground where he managed to land on his feet. Wincing, he looked down at his torso, seeing smoke wafting up from fresh burned marks.

Pushing himself up onto his feet, Cyborg turned to fully face the vigilante, keeping his arm cannon aimed at him. By then, Jaime was back on his feet as well. The horns on his back had appeared to grown longer by this point and had he not looked up in time, he would've missed a filmy material emerge out of his back. To his eye, it looked a lot like bug wings and his assumption was proven correct as the wings began beating themselves rapidly until they were blurs.

Jaime then flew forward through the air. "Look out!" he cried, causing Cyborg to begin turning towards him. It was too late by then as it was his turn to tackle the mechanical man, sending the two flying through the air until they hit the ground on the street, bouncing across the pavement a couple of times.

The moment the stopped, Jaime leaned backwards, drawing an arm back. His hand deformed into liquid again, becoming longer until it hardened into a long, blade-like appendage. It was like looking at the leg of an insect actually. The boy then brought the point down to stab his opponent in the face.

By then, Cyborg shot a hand up, grabbing the sharp point and stopping it mere centimeters from his robotic eye. Strain appeared on his face as he gritted his teeth, pouring in as much strength to hold off the point.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Cyborg, Sir," Jaime profusely apologized. "I'm being honest, I'm not trying to hurt you!"

"You've...got a funny way...of showing that," Cyborg grunted back.

And then the mechanical man moved his other arm, placing the cannon point blank against the boy's stomach. "No!" Batman shouted just before Cyborg fired another blast, this one blowing Jaime up into the air, removing his threat from Cyborg.

Batman had feared the worst from a blast like that at such close quarters. Part of him thought Jaime would've been fatally harmed, the beam tearing through his young body. That fear proved to be for naught as the boy pulled away from the energy beam, his insect wings allowing him to hover in midair before he drifted down to the ground to land a short distance away from Cyborg.

How was all of this happening? It was a question that had been asked repeatedly by everyone present. It still held merit now, after all that had happened so far. Jaime had somehow put on some bizarre suit, albeit unknowingly if his previous screams were anything to go by. Now he was putting up a decent fight against the Regime's top logistics man with powers that were similar to a bug.

Wait...bug...the Scarab!

Was this the Scarab's doing? It was firmly attached to Jaime's back, that was certain. Had it formed some sort of armor around Jaime and granted him his powers? Yet, Jaime had made it quite clear he wasn't in control of himself. Was there some sort of sentience behind this Scarab?

If so, it would explain quite a bit. In fact, it hadn't started this demonstration until Cyborg had appeared. Considering it had caused Jaime to go charging headfirst at the man, it was clear it was reacting to him.

Batman shook his head. This was a mystery that could be solved much, _much_ later.

By now, both Jaime and Cyborg were standing, staring each other down. "I've had just about enough of this, Kid," the cyborg told him, his tone devoid of humor. "I'm giving you just one chance to stand down, or I'm taking off your head. Better make your decision quick because I got backup on the way and they're more unforgiving than I am."

In response, Jaime's body moved, both of his arms flying up as they began to meld into each other. This time, a large energy cannon was formed, blue light glowing from its barrel. "I can't stop this!" he cried out in terror.

"Shit!" Cyborg cursed as he aimed his own cannon. In the blink of an eye, both men fired their respective energy blasts, one blue, the other yellow. Both beams raced towards each other, colliding approximately midway between them. The very air was forced out, sending a strong wind flying in all directions, Batman being battered by it as he was forced back up against the tree, grunting as the pressure mounted against his body.

And then it was gone, leaving only the clash of energy blasts pushing against each other. It didn't take a genius to know that a large amount of power was being generated and no matter who won, there were going to be a lot of losers. If one of them was overpowered, the winner's blast would destroy countless houses in the area.

He couldn't let that happen.

Reaching to his belt, Batman scrambled to open one of the pouches. There wasn't much he could do to alter the battle present, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. He had an idea already, but it was completely reckless, yet there wasn't many other options. Reaching into the pouch, he pulled out an oval device from his belt.

A concussion detonator.

It had been awhile since he had last used a concussion detonator, but the results had always been favorable. Gripping the top with one hand, he twisted it until it beeped at him. Knowing that it was primed, Batman drew it back before throwing it right towards the area where the two beams were wrestling with each other. Even as it flipped end over end, Batman moved behind the tree, hoping it would help block out some of the impending force about to erupt.

The concussion detonator landed right next to the crackling beams, its outer shell cracking before it shattered. An instant later, a powerful, concussive force blew out in all directions, slamming right into Jamie and Cyborg.

Both were thrown into the air, their arms jerking upward from the blast. This caused their beams to be aimed up into the sky, sending them flying up into the air harmlessly. Even better, they both lost their focus and their respective beams ended just as quickly. Gripping hard onto the tree, Batman watched both men go flipping wildly through the air in opposite directions, landing hard on the street seconds later.

Gritting his teeth, Batman went running towards Jaime, rapidly closing the distance between them. Once he reached him, he was pleased to see the boy sitting up, one hand braced behind him on the ground as his other hand rubbed his head. "Dios mio," he swore, his...face...wincing.

"Jaime," the vigilante barked as he kneeled down next to him. "Can you control yourself?"

"Yeah, I think so." He flinched again. "What was that? My head hurts a little bit."

"It's supposed to, but right now we don't have time for it." He leaned closer to the boy. "You need to fly us out of here right now, before Cyborg gets back up. He should be stunned for a minute or so, but we need to use that time to get out of here."

"Fly? What do you mean fly?" he exclaimed. "I don't know how to fly!"

"You did a little bit ago."

"But that wasn't me! Something else was doing that!"

"Which means you can do the same if you focus enough. Now stand up and grow some wings." Not even giving the teen the chance to protest further, he grabbed his arm and forced him onto his feet.

To Jaime's credit, he seemed to be trying at least. His face twisted with strain. "I...I can't do it," he complained.

"Focus," Batman ordered him. "If you want to live long enough to graduate high school, focus."

"I'm...I'm trying," he protested, but did as told. Almost unexpectedly, the insect wings erupted out of his back, fluttering for a moment before they stilled. Surprised, he said, "I...I did it!"

"Great, now fly."

Again, he began to strain, but it didn't take nearly as long for the wings to start beating up and down over and over. Soon, he began to lift off the ground, floating higher and higher. "I'm flying! I'm really flying!"

By then, Batman had his backup grapple out, pulling out several lengths of cable from it. "Jaime!" he called out just before tossing up the grapple claw. Thankfully, the boy caught it, holding it curiously.

"Now fly us out of here," he told him. "I'll make sure Cyborg doesn't take any more shots at us, but you need to get us airborne and out of here."

Nodding, Jaime then turned around in midair and began rising further up. Batman soon felt himself lifted up and then flying away. Jaime managed to get them high enough that the houses were several feet below the vigilante. With the wind beating at him, Batman found himself twisting and turning in the air, though he did his best to keep an eye towards the last known location of Cyborg. The boy didn't need to worry about aerial maneuvering right at the moment.

* * *

To Guest: There's plenty of story left to go. We'll be completing these stories, you can count on it.


	24. Project Metamorpho

Jaime had set them down in a rather familiar vacant lot. Batman had released his hold on the grapple cable as they descended, landing on his feet as his legs bent down to brace against the landing. The boy dropped the cable, allowing it to fall into a randomly coiled heap. He landed soon after.

He was panting, fatigue evident on his face. The flight had taken a lot out of him it seemed. Even now the boy was leaning over, hands pressed onto his knees as his chest rapidly expanded and contracted.

Walking over to him, the vigilante came to stand next to him. "Are you alright?" he asked him.

It took Jaime a few breaths before he answered. "No, I'm not. I've got some...some...something on me that's taken over my body. It made me attack a government official who now wants me dead. I have no where else to go and...oh, Mom! Milagro! Are they alright? Were they in the house?"

"Calm down," Batman said gently, placing a hand on the teenager's shoulder. "They're all alright. They escaped while you were fighting Cyborg. Right now you need to figure out your next move."

"But I don't know my next move!" he shouted, jerking away from the vigilante. "I'm just a kid in high school! I shouldn't be involved in any of this!"

"Yet you are," he replied sternly. This kid was getting angsty and that was not what they needed right now. "It's unfair, but you have to deal with it because if you don't, you'll die. The Regime isn't known for being sympathetic to people it fights. The way I see it, you've got two choices: you can give yourself up and hope the Regime shows you mercy."

He paused, letting that thought sink in the teenager's mind. "What's the other choice?" the boy asked hesitantly.

"You can come with me and live another day."

"Live another day?" he repeated incredulously. "That's it? Don't you mean you can fix it and I can go back to living my nice, boring life? Because I like my nice, boring life."

"If I could guarantee that, I would. If it were that easy, it would've been done a long time ago." Batman took a step towards him. "I do intend on fighting this Regime and if I prevail, your current problem will be solved. I could use your help to do that."

Despite the colored face, Jaime looked at him helplessly. "But I'm only seventeen. What can I do?"

"You're seventeen with the potential to fight a member of the Regime toe-to-toe. Not everyone can say that."

That got the boy's attention. "That wasn't me though. That was...I don't know, the suit? Whatever this is on me? It did all of that."

"Which means you can do all of that. Train yourself and you can do all of that and more if you put your mind to it. You managed to figure out how to fly, didn't you?"

Slowly, he nodded his head. "Yeah, I did, didn't I?" He straightened out his shoulders. "You sure I can do this?"

No, not at all. But if he was going to help this kid, he needed him willing and able. "You're capable of doing whatever you set your mind out to. I can point you in the right direction, but how far you go is up to you."

There was silence for a moment before Jaime said, "Okay, alright, I'll go with you." He then looked around at the lot around them. "So, where do we go? If we have to fly again, I'm not sure I can get us the whole way there."

"Unnecessary," Batman told him as he turned to look towards a building. It was about two stories tall. "Follow me." Pulling out his grapple, he fired it to the roof of the building, sailing up through the air until he flew over its edge and landed on it. He heard a humming sound and Jaime landed next to him soon after.

There, parked on the roof, was his jet. According to Cassandra, the one he had used before his jaunt through time had been destroyed; good thing he always had a spare lying around. The less said where he kept his extra vehicles and gear, the better. Hitting a button on his gauntlet, the canopy slid open. He hit a couple more buttons as he approached the plane, climbing in and settling into the pilot's seat. "Get in," he ordered.

Jaime managed to get in as well after a few attempts at hovering over the plane, situating himself in the backseat. It seemed insect wings weren't very good at keeping someone floating in one place. "So, um, nice plane," he complimented after awhile.

Batman powered the engine, the canopy sliding closed over then. "Buckle up."

* * *

They had gotten the emergency signal some time ago. Cyborg was in the farthest corner of Texas for some reason, which was the big reason why he had backup coming.

John ignored the blurry scenery below him; it was mostly desert anyways. Why anyone wanted to build a city out here was crazy in his opinion, yet El Paso had been there for some time. To his side, Shayera flew with him, easily keeping up with him.

The entire Regime had its hands full with cleaning up after the Red Lantern Invasion. Destroyed buildings, mangled bodies, and trapped civilians were all over the world. Everyone was out clearing the debris and freeing the civilians, even Diana. It was a big reason why no one had responded to Cyborg's initial call.

The two Leaguers reached the city limits without much fanfare. Following the signal they were receiving, they soon made their way to a residential area, a suburb even. Curiously, one of the streets had scorch marks on it.

This must have been it.

Coming to land, John scanned the neighborhood, seeing minimal damage. The street had taken most of it while a house clearly needed some repairs to its face. Other than that, there wasn't anything too special here.

Shayera ended up finding Cyborg. He was towards the end of the street, embedded in the side of a car. By the time the Green Lantern approached him, the mechanical man was attempting to pull himself out of the wreckage, Shayera hovering next to him in case he needed further help.

"Looks like you had a time of it," John remarked as he came to stand before the two. "What happened?"

Cyborg shook his head, still leaning against the car. His face winced, something that was unusual for him John was quick to note. That caused him to frown in response.

"Just give me a sec," the man replied. "For some reason, I feel like my bell's been rung pretty good."

"A concussion? You?" Shayera repeated incredulously. "That's a first."

"Not really. I had my share playing football way back when. Not sure why I'm feeling this way though; this cybernetic body usually helps prevent that."

"You're also human too," John pointed out. "Even if a good chunk of your head is reinforced, a brain is a brain."

"I guess," Cyborg grunted before his hand gripped tightly on part of the car, causing it to twist in his grasp. He was squeezing pretty hard to make that happen. "Man, this is getting old," he grumbled. "I can get losing once, but this is one too many. This has got to stop."

"Mind filling us in on the blanks?"

The young man looked up at the Green Lantern. "Yeah, I was doing a check of the Hall of Justice security system when I picked up an anomaly. Someone had managed to hack into the system and record a minute or so of footage and played it over and over."

That made John scowl. Someone had the gall to trespass on their turf. That was a dead man walking.

"Since everyone was otherwise busy, I went to investigate," Cyborg continued. "Whoever had been there was good because they didn't leave a sign of themselves other than leaving their search history on the computer in the Morgue."

"Why would they want to go to the Morgue?" Shayera questioned, her eyes narrowing. She wasn't pleased by this, just like John.

"Something to do with Ted Kord since they sought out his body. Didn't go to the armory for his weapons, just checked his body. I ran a scan on it and detected a strange signal coming from Kord's body. I followed it here." He paused then. "And you'll never guess who I ran into here."

"It was the Insurgency, wasn't it," John stated, his anger starting to rear its head. Of course they would be active when they were at their lowest, the damn cowards. They must've been waiting for an opportunity like this to come up considering all the planning they had to have put into it. A person didn't just stroll into the Hall of Justice without running into six guards and that was just the outside.

"Not only. I saw that Bat-Imposter you guys want so much." That hit John right in the stomach, causing his eyes to widen with surprise, only to be replaced with more anger. "He was with some guy who suddenly put on this strange armor. They both attacked me and...well, this was the result."

"They clearly wanted something with this neighborhood," Shayera spoke up then. "Which house were they in front of?" she then asked Cyborg.

"That one, 1127," he answered her, pointing to some house behind John; he didn't even bother to look. Shayera stood up and lifted right up into the air, floating over to the indicated house, no doubt to investigate it.

"I swear, I'm gonna have to kick somebody's ass, I don't care whose," Cyborg grumbled as he began to shift from side to side, attempting to peel himself from the car. John watched this for awhile, observing the man struggling to get up. Eventually, he had to step in.

"Hold still," he ordered as he raised his ring. The cyborg did as instructed and the Green Lantern fired a thin green beam, one that hit Cyborg and then enveloped him in a green aura. Pulling back, he successfully removed his comrade from the damaged car, even going so far as to set the man up on his feet.

The moment he released his will, Cyborg grunted, "Thanks."

"No problem."

A silence passed. "What do you think the Insurgency was up to here?" Cyborg asked as he looked to the older man.

"That's what Shayera's going to find out," John answered him.

Shortly after that, they saw the Thanagarian emerge from a house. She took to the air, flying over to the two men before setting down. "There was no one inside," she reported. "Looked like a normal residence to me. The only thing that got my attention was this note."

At this, she held up a piece of notebook paper, the words "Went to Paco's for breakfast. Spending night. Love you." scribbled on it. Staring at it, John ultimately responded, "Looks like a note a kid left behind for his parents."

"A kid that was sneaking out," Cyborg declared as he took a step forward. "The guy in the weird armor, he wasn't wearing it when I got here. It was some kid and then he put on the armor."

"Get a name on the kid," John ordered. "And find out who this Paco is too. We'll need to interrogate him to see if he has any links to the Insurgency too."

And if Paco did, he was going to be in for one hell of a time.

* * *

So you know how they had until the next night to break into Stagg Industries for a supply of the super pills? They were even provided a car—not an electric car, unfortunately, but definitely one that didn't meet up with EPA regulations since before Superman declared himself an almighty despot—one that reached New York in the wee hours of the morning.

Perhaps they could finish this mission early.

Stagg Industries was fortunately to the southwest section of the city, so they didn't have to cross the entirety of New York and its heinous traffic. If there was one thing that Superman couldn't tame, despite his God-like powers, it was New York City traffic.

Pulling into the far parking lot, Ollie put the car in park, staring at the large, looming building in front of him. Batwoman was in the seat next to him, dressed in a trench coat with her suit underneath. She had even gone so far as to pull off her mask—and surprisingly her hair—for the ride.

"You know, after all this time, the one thing that surprises me about this whole thing is that you're not a redhead," the green archer remarked before looking over to the woman.

He had known this woman for so long, yet hadn't seen her true face. Even now she had a domino mask on her face, disguising her features somewhat. That she was comfortable enough to reveal this much to him humbled him a bit.

"I was wondering when you were going to bring this up," she remarked as she began sliding on her usual mask and red hair back on. "I have to say, I'm impressed by your restraint."

"Then you know what my next question is," Ollie responded as he looked to her. "Why?"

"The Regime knows my face," she replied simply. "If they knew who 'Batwoman' was, they'd know where to search in Gotham to find me. The red hair makes me rather unique-looking. The Regime will be on the lookout for a redhead, which there are just so many of those. Especially with the marks on my forehead."

That was one thing the domino mask didn't cover. Ollie had been doing this long enough to know just what they meant and what she had been through. The fact that even after that she was still willing to fight against the Regime was incredible.

"So, if it's not too presumptuous of me to ask, is Batman like you? Different hair color and all?"

A soft smile appeared on the woman's face as she shook her head. "No, nothing like that. We're not related in the least, but he still took me in when I had no place to go."

"Is that so? How did you two first meet?"

"I was ordered to fight him in a death match by my father who had trained me to be an assassin."

Ollie wasn't sure what he was expecting, but that wasn't it. An orphan, willing apprentice, something like that. "I'm guessing he won since you're both still alive," he commented after awhile.

"You'd be right. He took me in, retrained me, and gave me a different purpose. I was starting to look at him as a father by the time he disappeared."

"So when you said he was practically your father, you really meant that."

She paused for a moment. Then, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Well, then good for you. For now though, let's get to business." Ollie looked to the factory. "How do we get in?"

A smirk appeared on the woman's face. "Leave that to me."

Leaving that to Batwoman apparently meant grappling up the side of the building, entering the ventilation system, crawling their way through a passage just big enough to fit them—and incidentally giving Ollie the knowledge of how a sardine felt—and dropping into the main room of some sort of laboratory.

The main floor plan was of two intersecting, steel-plated paths, forming a wide diamond at the intersection. Strange sorts of machines and equipment were stacked and organized, making it difficult to move off the paths. At each slanted corner was a tall, metal structure, a green-tinted glass window showing what was inside. Two of them were clearly empty, which left two currently occupied. Walking over to one, Ollie couldn't help the strange look he gave.

There was some sort of man inside of what was apparently a case. He was bald and that was the most normal part of him. Because of the glass, he couldn't quite say for sure, but he could've sworn different parts of his body were different colors. What in the world was this? Some sort of science experiment?

"Arrow." Turning his head, he found Batwoman in front of a computer station. Somehow she had found it amongst all of this clutter. Walking towards her, he came to stand just behind her and to the right, looking over the woman's shoulder.

Batwoman's fingers typed in a hypnotizing fashion as she accessed the computer, bringing up the logo for Staggs Industries. Shortly after that, a desktop appeared with columns of folders. There was no telling what each one of those files contained considering they had rather unique labels. Half of the names looked like they were made up to the archer.

However, one immediately got Ollie's attention: 5-U-93-R. That was clearly the super pill they were after. Pointing to it, he said, "See if you can't copy that file. Maybe we can glean some info from it back at the base."

The redhead nodded as she reached to her belt, pulling out a flash drive. Shoving it into a USB port, she waited for a window to pop up, one that belonged to the external hard drive. Right clicking on the super pill file, she found the copy option and clicked on it. She then right clicked into the flash drive window and right clicked there, hitting the paste option. Immediately, a loading bar appeared, indicating just how far along the computer was at its current job.

"This might take a while," the vigilante remarked before scanning through the other folder names. "Metamorpho?" she questioned after a couple moments.

"I swear, these people have some weird fascination with making up names," Ollie grunted in return. "Why don't we check it out? It's not like we're going anywhere soon."

Batwoman did as suggested, a new window opening. Immediately, they were greeted with a slide show, one without sound apparently. The cover slide proudly proclaimed PROJECT METAMORPHO before the next slide appeared. Graphics became animated, showing a figure with what appeared to be extraordinary abilities. The two watched as the animated figure seemed to change forms, becoming liquid and slime and everything in between.

Just great, it was an experiment to make people meta-humans. Like they didn't have enough of those already.

Ollie frowned. Turning away from the screen, he looked at the two occupied cases. From here he could identify the man he had seen earlier and in the other...was that a woman? Was it possible these two people were the result of this Metamorpho project? He immediately didn't like that thought.

"Tell me you're almost done with this download," he said after a moment. "We need to go find those super pills and get the hell out of dodge."

"Is this place giving you the heebie-jeebies?" Batwoman quipped.

"Yeah, and not the good kind."

Unfortunately, whatever luck they had been having at that moment ended as a door suddenly opened. Foot soldiers came pouring in, grasping batons with blue-glowing tips. There were perhaps ten of them, Ollie estimated, all of them surrounding the two Insurgents.

To be honest, that was an insulting number, especially for just two of them. Hell, ten was challenging for one of them, so five each wasn't that big of a deal.

Of course, that couldn't have been all. Heavy footsteps rang out as someone huge lumbered towards them through the doorway. Interesting thing was, he was completely grey too. The guy had a full beard, mustache, and stringy hair, yet he was grey. What, was he another research subject of this sick lab?

Combat boots stomped over the metal walkway as the man reached the group of masked soldiers, the men parting so that the grey hulk could move to the front of their group. "Looks like I got me some rats," he declared as he came to a stop, raising both of his hands up, one hand balled into a fist as the other hand wrapped around it. The sound of cracking knuckles filled the air shortly after.

"Oh, good, an actual challenge," Ollie remarked as he pulled out his bow, holding it in front of him. "For a moment, I thought it was just the guards. Got a name, pal?"

"The name's Girder," he grunted back in answer. "And I'm in need of some decent exercise. You and your lady friend better give me a good fight, Queen, or I'm gonna be sorely disappointed."

Batwoman was at Ollie's side then. "Got the drive," she muttered lowly to him.

Good. "So, which do you want: quantity or difficulty?"

The redhead seemed to think about that. "Quantity," she replied before she launched herself forward. She made a beeline right for Girder, who dropped one of his hands to a side while he drew the other back. By the time he threw his punch, the vigilante dropped to the floor, sliding across it feet first and right between his legs.

Which allowed Ollie, following the crazy broad, a wide open sucker to hit. Running at the large man at an angle, he held his bow up and across his body. The moment he was within striking distance, he swung the bow, nailing Girder across the face with it.

And that was it. The guy didn't even flinch from the blow. In fact, the bow seemed to bounce right off of his face, sending a tremor down into Ollie's arms and right up to his shoulders. The blond man blinked his eyes. Well, that was unexpected.

Straightening himself up, Girder just looked at him coolly before he bellowed out what he must have considered to be a war cry. He even leaned back as he kicked a foot at the Emerald Archer. Twisting to a side, he dodged the kick, but kept himself close. The moment the grey man's leg fully extended, Ollie gripped both ends of his bow and moved in, going in low as he forced the bow up beneath his foe's knee. Legs bent, he then straightened them as he shot up, pushing upwards against the leg. This threw off Girder's balance and caused him to lean too far back, his eyes widening as he let out a surprised cry before falling to the floor on his back.

Darting to a side and dashing forward, Ollie swung one of his legs wide before aiming it right at the fallen brute's face. His aim was a little off as the toe of his boot just missed the man's face, but he did land most of the boot's sole.

That turned out to be for the best. The moment his foot collided with Girder's face, a jolt of pain shot up his leg, causing Ollie to yelp as he went hopping on one foot backwards. It was awkward, sure, but at least he was still standing.

It came to the blond man just why Girder was grey. It wasn't for the sake of it, you know; he was grey because his skin was made of steel. It's why his bow had bounced off of the man; it's why his foot was pretty tender right now; and it's why the guy was getting back onto his feet looking no worse for wear.

 _Hmmm…maybe should've gone with quantity…_

"Heerryyaaaaahhh!" Girder shouted as he charged at Ollie. Eyes wide, the archer dove to a side, leaving the man to run right by him harmlessly. Going into a roll, he drew an arrow and had it notched onto his bow by the time he came up onto his feet, staying crouched to the ground. Drawing the arrow back, he fired it right at the man's face as he turned around to look at him.

The arrow hit him just below his left cheek, ricocheting off as it went twirling end over end through the air. Well, normal arrows were useless here. Kinda expected that, but he wanted to make sure that was the case.

"Did you honestly think that would work?" the literal man of steel asked incredulously. "I'm made of solid steel. There's nothing in that little quiver of yours that can hurt me!"

"Now I wouldn't say that," Ollie countered as he raised a hand to hover behind his head, and subsequently over his quiver. "I'm just full of surprises." He then glanced around himself, seeing Batwoman in midair, her arms wrapped around the head of one of the guards while she had her foot slamming right into the face of another guard. "Besides, you at least stand a chance against me. If Batwoman was right here, she'd have your balls in that utility belt of hers."

Girder scowled. It wasn't a friendly look to be sure. For a moment, it looked as if he would charge Ollie again, but instead he raised his foot up before slamming it down on the floor. Much to the archer's surprise, one of the steel plates that made up the floor shot upwards, one side of it being held down by Girder's foot as the other pointed upwards diagonally. Moving his foot, the steel man grabbed the plate and ripped it up out of the floor, twisting his body to a side and subsequently the metal panel.

It didn't take a genius to know what the man was intending on doing. Spinning his upper body, he threw the metal plate at Ollie, the rectangular piece of metal spinning around and around as it closed in on him. Diving to a side, he avoided the plate, ignoring what happened to it as he came up next to the case the woman Metamorpho test subject resided in.

Unfortunately, it seemed Girder did indeed have a brain. Throwing that metal plate had been a distraction so that he could close the distance between the two and he was practically on top of Ollie, throwing a wicked left cross at his head. Jerking his head back, the blond man ended up falling onto his back, a moment before Girder's fast slammed right into the glass of the case, cracking it and causing some form of gas to come hissing out of it.

Well, that just couldn't be good.

Unfortunately, he was not in a position to debate the merit of breaking a glass window to a hibernation unit for some wacky science experiment. Raising a foot up, Girder had every intention of using it to stomp the life out of Ollie. No doubt the force behind that stomp would turn his insides into jelly and maybe cause his arms and legs to go shooting off his body. Morbid thoughts, admittedly, but Ollie had no delusion what would happen considering what he had seen with the floor just eight seconds ago.

Rolling to his left, he avoided the foot stopping him. And just like before, the floor couldn't handle that much force and caused the metal plating to tip up to stand in the air. However, this time Girder had hit the center of four converging panels, causing them all to go up. One scraped up the blond man's back, causing him to hiss even as he turned onto his stomach. Pressing his hands and bow onto the floor, he forced himself up onto his hands and knees.

Only to leave himself wide open for the kick Girder sent that nailed in right in the side. Crying out, Ollie went careening through the air until he landed on the floor, rolling over it a couple times as his ribs screamed at him. Oh yeah, he had a fracture, possibly a broken rib.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury to just lay then and pitifully weep to himself. Dinah wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he did. Gritting his teeth, he got up onto his feet, holding his bow in front of him as he looked at the approaching Girder.

"Don't get too far," Girder called out to him. "The further I have to go is just that much longer for me to consider squashing your head with my foot, or ripping your arm off and beating you with it."

Now that was just a pretty picture.

However, though he may be injured, that didn't mean he was completely helpless. As a vigilante, he had fought through his share of injuries before, even ones that had come at very inopportune times. His current one was no exception. Pulling out one of his trick arrows, he took aim at the approaching Girder and let it loose, watching as it flew through the air.

And sailed right by Girder's head.

The steel man stopped, blinking his eyes at the miss. Slowly, he turned his head to watch the arrow land on the ground a short distance behind him, sticking out of the ground.

This blinded him to Ollie rushing towards him, ignoring the pain in his side. Holding his bow by both ends, he raced towards his foe, who turned back around, flinching with surprise at just where the archer was. Instinctively he threw a punch at him.

By then, Ollie had leaped off the floor, stretching his forward leg out so his foot landed right on top of the fist. As his momentum carried him forward, he bent his leg before extending it again, using the extended arm as a springboard as he went into a flip over Girder's head. Moving his bow, he made sure the shaft of his bow made contact with his opponent's neck.

Now, Ollie was one of the best archers in the world. He would've been mad to pull this stunt, and most of his fellow archers would've thrashed him for using his bow as such. But when desperate times called for desperate measures…

In other words, don't do this at home, kids.

As he went into the downward swing of his flip, Ollie's feet landed on the floor and he pulled as hard as he could with his bow. This caused Girder to lean backwards until his feet left the floor due to the force the Emerald Archer used against him. Swinging his arms over his head and then down in front of him, Ollie swung the metal brute down on top of his trick arrow, which was still sticking out of the ground.

The moment Girder's body hit it, the arrow exploded, the force of the blast sending the metal man flying up into the air. Because of his bow still wrapped around his neck, Ollie was pulled upwards with him, the entire time the archer was pulling down with his arms, which consequently pulled him further up and eventually over Girder's body.

Quickly, the blond man moved his arms away closer to his body and then up, which removed his bow from hanging around Girder's neck. Maneuvering it as he pulled out another trick arrow, he had it notched and pointed right at Girder as he reached the peak of his upward flight.

He released the arrow, the bolt hitting his target right against the chest. Another explosion rang out, pushing the archer further up into the air while sending the large man falling rapidly to the floor, where he made a rather large dent in the metal paneling.

And again, he had another trick arrow notched on his bow. Letting it loose, he watched it raced downward until it hit Girder, the thin canister connected to the shaft breaking and unleashing a white cloud of gas. In record time, ice crystals formed and raced all over Girder, leaving a layer of ice all over his body. Even from this altitude, Ollie could see the man's face twisted in pain, frozen until spring came and thawed him out.

Gravity then set in, causing Ollie to drop to the floor. Calmly, he landed on his feet, and immediately went into a roll to disperse the force he would've been hit with had he remained standing up. He ended up crouched on his feet, staring at his fallen opponent, not the least bit perturbed.

"You sure took your time."

Rolling his eyes, Ollie stood up, turning to face Batwoman. She stood with her hands on her hips, the guards lying in various states of unconsciousness around her. Hmph, she looked rather proud of herself.

"Sorry to take so long," he retorted as he began to walk towards her. "This old body of mine doesn't quite move the way I want it to anymore, especially when against giant metal men. That's a pretty big weakness there."

She waved her hand at him flippantly. "Excuses, excuses."

"Hey, I would've liked to see you take him on!" he protested.

The sound of cracking ice caused him to freeze in his tracks.

Batwoman straightened her postures out as she assumed a fighting stance. "Perhaps I will get that chance."

Turning around, Ollie was just in time to see shards of ice burst from Girder's body and go flying in all directions. The archer held his arm in front of his face to protect it from the little sharp bastards.

And then Girder was on his feet. "I'm gonna crush your skill with my bare hands," he growled as he flexed his fingers over and over. "I'll kill you and then the girl, slowly, oh so slowly. You'll both be begging me to finish you when I'm done with you."

Ollie had a pretty good quip for that threat. It was a natural gift of his and one he made use of daily. However, he never got the chance to say it.

"Now that doesn't sound very nice."

That rather girlish voice was the reason why.

All three of them perked their heads up upon hearing that. Looking this way and that, they tried to find the source of it.

"I know! I think someone needs to take a time out!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a raging maelstrom appeared, the air in the room being forced to spin around and around. The wind itself had a yellowish-green color, the vortex being as wide as the entire room and then shrinking. Soon, it was a tornado right between Ollie, Batwoman, and Girder, all three of them watching as their bodies braced against the powerful wind, arms held up in front of their faces for protection.

Slowly, a figure formed. It was a woman's, that much Ollie was sure about. He knew that because he was what you would call an expert on the feminine form if he didn't say so himself. It sort of helped to see the soft curves of her body, not to mention the long pink hair that—

Wait, pink?

Ollie blinked his eyes over and over, but not once was he mistaken. The woman did have pink hair. And a leg that looked like it was made of wood. And one arm that was made of stone. And the other arm of clay...maybe? He didn't even want to get into whatever the pink substance the other, rather shapely leg was made of.

And then the wind was gone, leaving this bizarre looking woman standing there. "Hi there!" she greeted them all, waving a hand excitedly. "Thanks for freeing me from that cryostasis chamber! I was getting pretty bored in there until you guys arrived!"

"Cryo-what?" Girder uttered before shaking his head. "Lady, I don't know what's messing with your head, but you're going back in there, alright? I've got enough trouble right now and I don't need to bother with you unless you want me to break your legs."

Ollie couldn't see the woman's face, ya know, since he was looking at her back, but he liked to think she wasn't happy with that idea. "But...I don't want to go back…" she spoke so softly and pitifully. Then she squared her shoulders. "No. I'm not going back and you can't make me."

Girder scowled at her. "Oh, you're going to—"

He didn't say much after that. Raising up her clay arm, it changed shape right before Ollie's eyes, becoming a bigger, shinier, metal arm. Without hesitation, she slammed her fist into Girder's face, the force of the blow sending him flying backwards and into the closed door of the lab. The doors dented from the impact, but remained standing, Girder slumping against them. He shook his head, looking dazed as he pushed himself forward.

Then promptly fell forward, landing face first on the ground.

Well, that was one way to take a metal man out.

The woman's metal arm returned to its clay-colored one as she spun around, revealing her chalk white face as she smiled at the two Insurgents. "Hi!" she greeted them once again. "Sorry if I had to get rough with that big guy there, but I don't really want to go back into cryostasis."

"I don't blame you," Ollie stammered out. "And we won't put you back in if you don't want to."

The woman's face lit up, her smile growing wider. "Really? You mean that? Yippee!" She even jumped up into the air, thrust a hand up into the air in celebration.

"So, uhh, could you tell us why you were in that chamber thing?" the blonde man inquired uneasily.

The woman looked to him with pink eyes. "Oh, I was in there because of Stagg Industries' Metamorpho project. I was one of two volunteers selected for human trials, but then they threw us in the cryo-chambers. I'm not entirely sure why, though."

"What was the purpose of this project?" Batwoman asked then, joining the conversation. She held herself defensively, unsure of how to act around this rather strange woman.

"Hmm? You mean the Metamorpho project? It's a project to make people able to adapt to any environment imaginable. Hot, cold, dry, wet, even underground!" Suddenly, she gasped as her eyes went wide, clasping her hands in front of her mouth. "Oh! But that's top secret! Can you do me a favor and not mention that to anyone?"

Ollie and Batwoman looked to each other. "Sure," he replied after a moment. "I think we can do that, Miss…?"

It took her a moment to realize what he was getting at. "Oh, you want my name!" She seemed rather happy about this. "It's Emily! Emily Sung! I'm one of Stagg Industries top chemists!"

 _She_ was a top chemist? Wow...

"Nice to meet you, Ms Sung," the blond man responded eventually. "I'm Ollie and the redhead next to me is Batwoman."

Emily looked at Batwoman. "Batwoman? Is that some sort of code name?" Upon seeing the vigilante nod in response, she squealed. "Oooooh, I want a code name too! Can I have one? Can I? Can I?"

"Yeah, sure, anything you want," Ollie replied as he slowly began to relax. Whoever this Emily Sung was, she was definitely a few crayons short of a full box. Still, she was harmless as long as you didn't annoy her. "We're in a bit of a hurry though. You wouldn't happen to know where those super pills are located, would you?"

Emily looked confused at that. "Super pills?" Her face then lit up. "Oh, you mean the 5-U-93-R samples! I sure do! I can even show you where they are under one condition."

"And what's that condition?" he asked guardedly.

"Come up with a code name for me."

Was that all? Ollie was suspecting someone was pulling his leg, but if this worked, well, he could deal with it. However, just any old name wouldn't do. If he just threw a random one out, there was no way to know how she would react. Looking at her from head to foot, taking in the sight of her wood leg and her stone arm, he ended up tossing out, "How about Element Woman?"

Emily stared at him before she whispered, "Element Woman...I love it…"

Oh, joy.

"Well then, Element Woman," Ollie said as he began walking towards her. "Now that you have a name, why don't you join our little team here and show us where those pills are?"

"Join? As in join with you? Be on a team?" It was a moment before she let out another squeal. "No one's ever asked me to be on a team before! Count me in!"

And suddenly Ollie knew why she hadn't been asked before. This might prove to be troublesome.

* * *

Green Arrow's aerial attack on Girder is based on his Ultimate attack in Injustice 2. I tweaked it a bit since I really doubt the same combo could be of used against a man made out of metal.

To Guest: Oh, that'll be mentioned soon. Happy New Year!


	25. Return Of A Princess

Things were so, so, so different.

She had thought it quite strange when she had entered Earth's jurisdiction and had not been hailed by its orbiting space station, the Watchtower. She had shrugged that off as the station being on the other side of the planet at the time. It had seemed reasonable at the time.

However, now that she was planet-side and floating before the ruins of what had been her old home, Princess Koriand'r was confused. She had not been gone that long, had she? Her people on Tameran had hailed her and she had gone to their aid. Perhaps she had spent more time there than she originally anticipated she would, but that had been for the best, she had thought. Her friends had been arguing so much at the time…

No, surely they did not come to blows and burnt down her home away from home!

The redhead shook her head, her long red curls falling over her shoulders and down her back. She was being silly; it was a frame of mind Wonder Girl had told her she fell into quite often.

Oblivious to the stares she was receiving from voyeurs from their windows, the Tamaranian princess floated in the air in front of a line of buildings. There was a nice breeze that blew against her sun-kissed skin, helping to cool her off from her bout of silliness. Across a body of water was a small island with the remains of the Titan Tower were situated. There had been a bridge too, but it was no longer connected. Some sort of explosion seemed to have broken the structure, leaving a large gap at its middle. Even their rather large boat was submerged in the harbor and seemed to have been there for quite some time. When this had happened, Koriand'r did not know, but it disturbed her.

Now, how did she rectify this situation? She could not stay here since there was nothing for her to stay at. She lacked other dwellings at the moment as well, so she could not stay anywhere else. Though she was saddened by the sight of her home away from home, there was little cause to dwell on it.

For now, this was a quandary. Where was she to go? She lacked any Earth money, so she could not rent herself accommodations. If only she knew where her friends had gone, she could stay with them.

A few moments went by before she remembered that she could indeed contact her friends. That was right! Her communicator was still in her possession. Reaching to the belt that held her purple briefs up, she pulled out the small earpiece from a compartment and activated it, then placed it in her ear.

"Friends of Earth, it is I, Starfire," she called out, keeping a hand pressed to her ear. "I have just recently returned and have found something quite disturbing. Please respond."

Patiently, she waited for a response from her hail, but was only met with silence. This did not deter her as she called out again, once more receiving the same response. By now there was a frown on her face. Why was no one answering her? If only this device actually told her if the others' comm links were on.

Her head perked up. Yes! Of course! She would just use the computer on her ship and it would inform her of which communicators were on. She could then track down the functioning devices and find her friends. It was a good plan!

Shooting up higher into the air, she then flew over Jump City, heading back to her ship. Her hair trailed behind her like a flame. It was only a matter of time until she was reunited with the others.

* * *

Paco was a kid; just some kid with bedhead who had just woken up.

He was fully awake the moment he came to the door.

John could image what was going through his head. A kid wakes up, goes to the front door, and finds a Green Lantern, a Thanagarian, and the Regime's communications director waiting. That would make just about anyone drop a brick.

It was impressive that he didn't.

"I-i-is there s-s-somet-thing I-I-I can do f-for you?" he stammered at the three of them.

"Yeah, there is," John said gruffly as he moved front and center. He kept his arms crossed over his chest as he stared the kid down. "Do you know who lives at 1127 Gilmore Lane?"

Paco stared at him before he visibly shook himself out of his stupor. "Y-yeah, Jaime Reyes lives there."

Jaime Reyes, huh? The last name matched with the owner of the house. "Mind telling us why this Jaime Reyes would be involved with the Insurgency?"

"He's what?!" the kid yelped. "Jaime would never do that! Never! He would never!"

"You sound pretty sure of yourself," Shayera remarked as she moved next to John. "Are you a part of the Insurgency?"

"No! I wouldn't! That's suicide!"

"Damn right it is," Cyborg muttered under his breath.

"Then you won't mind if we do a search of your house, right?" the redhead pressed.

Paco hesitated before slowly nodding.

"Cyborg, go in and scan the place," Shayera ordered, stepping aside so that the mechanical man could go in. Cyborg strode up, looking down at the timid Paco until he got the hint to get out of the way. Once he was inside, John and Shayera took a few steps back.

"This is a dead end," John grumbled as he turned to look at the rest of the neighborhood. "About the only thing we'll find here is an illegal immigrant at best."

"I think you might be right," the redhead agreed. She sighed. "You know, I can remember a time when that kid would've fallen head over feet for our autographs. Now…"

"He's doing exactly what he should be doing," the Green Lantern replied sternly. "We're not here to be friends, or idols. We're here to uphold peace, the law, which is something people need reminding of every so often."

A smirk appeared on Shayera's face. "Someone likes being feared."

"Being feared has nothing to do with it."

That was when Cyborg exited the house. "I found nothing," he reported as he walked up to the two as they turned to face him. "Place is clean."

"Then we just woke up some kid for nothing," John said as he scowled. He then looked over Cyborg's shoulder and said to the kid, "You can go back in. And don't come out until curfew is over."

Paco nodded frantically before practically rushing into the house, slamming the door closed.

"So now what?" Cyborg asked. "I don't care what that kid says about this Reyes kid, but he was neck deep with the Insurgency. I saw it with my own two eyes."

"Well, they had to go somewhere," Shayera responded. "Can you check satellite surveillance footage of this entire town? Maybe we can pick something up."

"You got it." Cyborg went quiet for a few moments, working on uplinking with the satellite surveillance system. However, something was clearly wrong when he scowled.

"This can't be right," he muttered before he growled. "Every damn satellite is off and has been for the last hour. There isn't a second of footage for the entire North American Continent."

Suddenly, Shayera was in his face. "How?" she demanded angrily. "How can anyone do that without you knowing it instantly? You're connected to everything, damn it."

"I...I can't explain it," he stammered back. "I should've picked up on this, but I didn't so much as get an alert that they were shut down."

"How many of them?" John asked. While it was upsetting to hear, getting caught up in anger was the last thing they needed at the moment.

"Three, all old Wayne Tech satellites, so this shouldn't have happened."

Shayera narrowed her eyes. "Three Wayne Tech satellites and you said the guy you met was dressed like Batman?"

"That's right."

John was now frowning at the Thanagarian. "What is it?" he questioned.

"Don't you think that's a bit coincidental?" she replied. "A guy dressed like Batman shows up, escapes from the cell block at the Hall, possibly sneaks back in to examine a body, and then shuts off three satellites that were made by the company the original owned. Do you think…?"

"No, he's dead," John immediately said. "I was there, I saw the explosion. I even recovered the body."

"Yet, this guy is doing things he could've done—would have done."

"Uhh, mind letting me in on what you're talking about?" Cyborg asked. "Are you saying you think this Bat-fake may actually be the real deal?"

"That's what she's suggesting, but she's wrong," John told him. "Anyone can learn what the real Batman did."

"Escape artistry, sure," Shayera agreed. "Martial arts, definitely. Investigative techniques, why not? Becoming a hacker with skills that can get passed Cyborg, the guy connected to every computer on this planet? Not impossible, but very unlikely. Now put all of those together in one person and that's too much of a stretch—one that's too big for me."

"Regardless, I suggest this little theory of yours doesn't leave the three of us," the Green Lantern said. "Imagine if Diana hears about it. She'll wring your neck."

"Oh, John, do you really think I'm that's stupid?" The look she gave him told him exactly what she'd do if he even thought of answering that. "Until I get more solid proof, I can hold my tongue."

Suddenly, Cyborg perked up, then jerked his head away from them. The two Leaguers frowned at him as they watched him walk into the street. "Is something wrong?" John asked him.

"I just picked up on a radio frequency," the mechanical man answered him, looking to his left and then his right, scanning the sky. "It's an old one I used back when I was with Raven and the others. No one uses it anymore."

"Until now." Shayera was walking towards their comrade. "Someone wants your attention."

Looking to the sky, John began searching it as well. It was because of this he caught sight of something streaking through the air, keeping a high altitude before descending downward. It was heading in their direction and the closer it got, the more he could make of it. Make that them, a person. A person with what looked like long red hair.

"It can't be," Cyborg murmured.

"Cyborg!"

The next thing all three of them knew, a rather lush, orange-skinned woman crashed right into the cyborg, arms embracing him as she nearly knocked him to the ground. Somehow, the young guy managed to stay on his feet, stumbling back a couple steps until he could get his footing.

"Starfire!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the girl by her upper arms, trying to disentangle himself from her. "How, why, when did you get here?"

This Starfire girl didn't seem to hear him, or if she did, his word went right over her head. "Oh, I just knew if I used the old emergency signal, it would help me find you!" she declared, practically bouncing on the pavement. "It got louder the closer I got to you, just like you said it would!"

"Uhh, Victor?" Shayera spoke up, causing the two to look to her. "Mind telling us who this friend of yours is?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Cyborg said as he stopped away from the orange-skinned girl. "Guys, this is Starfire, an old friend of mine," he introduced, holding a hand out to her. Starfire actually performed a curtsy despite the fact she wasn't wearing a skirt. What was best described as bikini briefs and some purple long sleeve shirt covered her up. The "shirt," such as it was, didn't go much further than the bottom of her breasts, showing off her flat stomach.

"Greetings!" Starfire exclaimed happily, "friends of Cyborg!"

"Uhh, Starfire, this is John Stewart and Hawkgirl," he spoke after her premature greeting. Yeah, there was definitely something off about her mentally.

Her green eyes widened with surprise. "Do you mean the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and the Thanagarian of Thanagar? The ones from the Justice League?"

"Yeah, that's them."

"Joyous occasion! I had always wanted to meet the two of you!"

"I think I know who you are!" Shayera shouted then, startling the entire group. "You're a Tamaranian, aren't you?"

"That is correct," she chirped back happily. "I am Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran. Pleased to meet you, Ms Hawkgirl."

Another princess, great. It wasn't like they had enough royalty in the Regime.

"When did you get back, Star?" Cyborg then inquired, changing the topic again. "I honestly didn't think you were coming back."

"Well of course I was going to return," the Tamaranian replied, sounding as if her coming back was obvious. "Matters on Tamaran proved to be quite distracting."

"Let me guess," Shayera said then. "There was a coup."

"Oh yes," Starfire responded to her, her eyes becoming alight with excitement. "Several in fact. I was involved with six of them myself. In fact, because of the latest one, I am now exiled from the planet and need a place to stay."

John was thoroughly confused by all of this. This princess was talking as if there was always a coup going on her home planet. Right then, information from his ring flooded his mind and he suddenly realized just what the situation was like on Tamaran.

Apparently, the Tamaranians were a warlike people that engaged in repeated overthrows of their planetary government. It was almost as if it was expected there would be a coup every few months. In fact, the one this Koriand'r was exiled from was not the most recent one. In the time between her banishment and arrival on Earth, another one had broken out and was currently in progress.

Thank God that wasn't Earth anymore.

"Once I was exiled from my home planet, I made my way here," the redhead was saying, shaking John out of his ring's debriefing. "However, once I arrived, I found so many new things. Like our old home. Did you know it is almost no more? I did not, so I went back to my ship so that I could find everyone and found out yours was the only working communicator. I could not find Raven's, or Beast Boy's, or Wonder Girl's, or Red Robin's. Do you know why theirs are not working?"

"So I take you need a place to crash," Cyborg summed up then, ignoring her question. "I think I can help you find a place at the Hall of Justice."

"What are you doing?" John immediately snapped, eyes narrowing at the younger man. What was this guy thinking? Inviting some long lost friend of his back to their headquarters? That had stupid written all over it.

"Offering Starfire a place to sleep," the mechanical man answered him, then promptly stepped up to the Green Lantern. "Look, we lost a lot of hands and we're going to need new blood. Starfire's legit. She can help us."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Definitely. I'd swear on a Bible if we had one."

"You better be. She's too much of an airhead for my tastes."

"That's just Star being Star. Once she's in a fight, she is totally focused, you'll see."

Oh, yeah, they would see.

* * *

There were some new faces at the table.

Joining the original five was a young boy coated in an alien armor and a woman who looked as if she had once belonged to five other people and was stuck together. Jaime Reyes was looking to the adults in the room uneasily, clearly nervous by his general situation. Emily Sung—or Element Woman as she was insisting on being called—looked thrilled to be there.

It was definitely a big contrast between the two.

Queen was currently rubbing his temple with one hand, an expression on his face that clearly said he felt a migraine coming on. "Tell me again why you basically kidnapped a high school kid. I'm clearly missing how you got from point A to B on this one."

Batman looked to Mr. Terrific, who merely shrugged his shoulders. It was clear he wasn't going to say anything and the dark-clad vigilante was loathed to repeat himself. Still, if they were going to get through this impasse, one of them was going to have to talk.

"As I've said," the vigilante gave in, speaking to the group once more, "the Scarab we were after has fused itself to the boy's spine. If we're to remove it, it could kill him."

That had been a startling, if not unwanted, discovery upon returning to the old Gotham Underground. Batman, Holt, and even Ra's had examined the Scarab and had come to the same conclusion—the Scarab was firmly apart of Jaime and it wasn't letting go anytime soon. That had served to plunge the boy into a depression, one that he was still visibly in.

"I get that part," Queen said as he lowered his hand, looking to the Dark Knight. "What I'm not getting is why you're involving him in our fight. He shouldn't be here just on general principle."

"It's because he attacked a high ranking Regime member, Cyborg. The Scarab took over Jaime's body and tried to kill him. If he goes out into the cold, he's as good as dead."

The archer stared at him. "You make it sound that this bug thing is sentient," he commented in disbelief.

That wasn't entirely untrue. Considering the Scarab had moved all on its own, it spoke of some sort of intelligence, even if it was instinctual. Batman highly suspected it was this mindset that caused it to spread all over Jaime, arming him with a veritable war machine.

"That's precisely what is going on," Ra's interjected. "If you look at the facts on the matter, this Scarab is no relic like we were led to believe. It's origins are currently unknown, but we can safely assume that it is now apart of the young Reyes."

"And because of its actions, he is now wanted by the Regime," Batman added. "So this is the safest place for him."

"Until the Regime knocks our door in," Queen retorted. "Or we get extremely lucky and beat them. That's not exactly a winning hand here."

Surprisingly, it was Jaime that spoke up. "So what you're telling me is that I can either let the Regime find me and do whatever that want, or I can fight them to save myself, right?" Though his tone was uncertain, the words were pretty blunt and succinct, something that startled them all.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Queen admitted to him.

"Then I have to help you," the boy declared, confidence leaking into his voice. "If I want a chance at returning back to normal, it's by helping you guys."

A serious look appeared on the green-clad man. "Are you absolutely positive you want to do this? There's no guarantee that any of us will make it out of this alive, or in one piece."

Jaime looked unsure once more. "Well, what would you do in my situation?"

Queen paused. Then, "I guess I'd be trying to help the people that want to help me." He sighed then. "Alright, I guess you're in."

"Thanks...I think…"

"Which brings us to your recruit," Batman said, turning the tables on Queen. His eyes darted over to Sung, who seemed to bask in the attention that was being aimed at her. She even straightened out her posture, squaring her shoulders, and holding her head high. "What are her capabilities?"

Batwoman decided to answer that one. "From what we gathered from Stagg Industries, she can adapt to any environment conceivable."

Batman raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"As far as I can tell, she can change her body to—"

"I can change my body into anything I want it to be!" Sung announced happily. "Well, except if I want to look like a normal person. For some reason I can't replicate human skin, or if I do it just becomes this uncomfortable mask and I have to take it off. You can use them for ashtrays if you want to! Oh wait, do you smoke? Because you shouldn't, you know. Smoking's bad for your health."

Oh, so she was a shapeshifter with unknown limits. That made two unknowns on their team and they weren't exactly in a situation for that. They needed to find out what they could do quickly.

Apparently, Ra's was of the same mind as he was. "It would seem we need to understand what our new members are capable of. That should be our next step."

"And what of the Regime?" Queen pointed out. "There's no telling how long this window of opportunity we have will stay open. We can't just sit back and wait before we make our next move."

"An excellent point, which I believe the Detective will discuss." At this, Ra's looked to the vigilante, his only indication that the floor was now his.

"From what I've been able to gather from past confrontations with the Justice League and now the Regime, most of the attempts to defeat them involved large confrontations with the entire League in attendance," Batman began, looking to the rest of the Insurgents. "Does anyone disagree with this?"

Upon seeing multiple heads shake to indicate they had no objections to what he said, the vigilante continued, "Our strategy will involve separating the League. If there is one thing I've learned during my time with the League, it's that they are very fortunate when it comes to last-second saves. Whether that's saving a hostage, or a friend, more times than not, luck has sided with them and a part of that is due to their proximity to each other."

"So what you're saying is that your grand master plan is to divide and conquer," Queen said skeptically. "Wow, we waited all of these years for that. It's astounding no one else has thought of that." He then scowled right at the Dark Knight. "Don't you think we've tried that already? It didn't work then and it won't work now."

Batman set his sights on the archer. "Those plans involved separation over a small area, perhaps a few city blocks at best. That allowed a League member the ability to defeat their opponent and go help out somewhere else. What I'm proposing is much larger in scope. We need to place the League in multiple areas throughout the country, if not the world. The further we spread them out, the better. Once we have then separated, we use countermeasures to take them down fast."

"And you have these countermeasures available?"

"I've been reading up on the Regime's members from the intel provided by the Bat Underground. I've thought up of a few ideas."

There was a moment of silence as the vigilante's words sunk in. "And what areas do you have in mind?" Queen pressed.

"Detroit, for one. That's John Stewart's hometown and he'll come to deal with any trouble there personally. For Superman, Metropolis or Smallville."

"You do realize those two are never alone, right?" the blond man rebutted. "Hawkgirl is usually at Stewart's side and Wonder Woman is practically glued to Superman."

"We'll have to deal with that if that is what the case may be. That doesn't mean we won't try to separate them."

"It's not a bad idea," Holt spoke up as he leaned forward in his seat. "But we'll need to time such attacks accordingly. One of the first people we need to take out is Cyborg. Seeing as their entire communication system runs through him, if we take him out first, we can blind them to what we're doing."

That wasn't a bad idea at all. Ra's, then, added, "It is possible to achieve these objectives. I have spent time studying the Regime's members and I believe I know what will draw them out into our traps."

"Everyone except Superman and Wonder Woman," Batwoman spoke up. "I'm sure if we cause some trouble in whatever location that is important to them, they will come to defend it, either by themselves, or with a partner. Superman won't leave the Hall of Justice, even when the Red Lanterns were attacking, which means Wonder Woman won't either. They're the strongest members they have, so if we can't separate them, this is all meaningless."

"Actually, there is a way to separate them," Ra's stated, earning himself the attention of the room. "As you have said, it'll have to be something important for Wonder Woman to leave Superman's side. There's one place she holds above all else and I know she'll respond."

Batman's head perked up at that, realizing just what the Demon was getting at. "Are you talking about Themyscira?"

There was hushed silence. Then, "Are you insane?!" Queen roared as he shot out of his seat. "Invading Themyscira? The home of the Amazons? You have to be crazy, there's no other way around it. I mean, let's set aside the fact that we don't have the manpower for such a job; that's an island of trained warriors that'll slaughter us on the beach, assuming they don't try to capture us and proceed to castrate us men."

"I agree," Batman added, staring coldly at Ra's. "I won't risk anyone's life. This isn't a suicide squad we're putting together."

"Blood shed may be required to accomplish our objectives," the Immortal Man responded, not the least bit taken back by the resistance he faced. "Yet, if everything goes as planned, we can fix this entire world."

The implications hit the dark-clad man harder than he would have liked to admit. Whatever actions they took here, all of it could be changed, erased, undone. All they needed to change it all was one trip back in time.

His time.

Whatever bloodshed occurred, whatever deaths had been done, all of it was possible to change. It was almost a kill one to save millions. Yet, that was a scenario that led to the Regime, one the Insurgents were opposed to. And yet, would such a scenario exist if the circumstances that brought it to the fore never existed?

"And how do you plan on doing that?" the archer said sarcastically then.

Ra's looked right to Batman, which in turned caused the rest of them to turn their attention to him. "Because, though our goal is to overthrow Superman and his Regime, our ultimate one is to make sure that none of this ever happens," the Demon's Head spoke.

There was some confused looks shared amongst the others. "Umm, I know I'm pretty new to this," Jaime spoke up, "but how are you going to do that? How can you stop Superman from taking over the world when he's already done it?"

"And without a Delorean to boot," Queen added snidely.

That got Holt's attention. "Wait, are you intending on doing time travel?" He shook his head as he slouched in his seat. "I knew I should've had my head examined to join you. That's impossible; no one has been able to perfect time travel."

A small smile appeared on Ra's face. "Then how do you explain the Detective's presence?"

"Okay, now I'm confused too," Sung said. "Though that's not too hard for me, but you're saying the man dressed as a bat can travel in time?"

"He has. If you would like, I can show you the very device that brought him to this time."

"Yes, yes, I would like to see this," Holt responded dubiously. "I mean, we're talking about erasing all of time, as absurd as that is."

Neither Ra's, or Batman looked away nor gave away any hint of doubt they had. Even Batwoman had taken on the same serious expression that was on their faces. Slowly, it dawned on Holt just how serious they were being. "You're serious about this," he said softly as his eyes moved from one of the three to another to another. "You can undo all of this?"

"What does that mean exactly?" Queen questioned then, leaning forward in his seat. "If this ludicrous idea of yours happens, what will happen?"

"Imagine a world where the Regime does not exist," Ra's answered him. "Where your friends and family have not been murdered, at least by the people who took an oath to uphold this planet's laws. Where you are no longer considered wanted by a dictator and his followers."

"Where Dinah is still alive?" the blond man pressed.

"Potentially. Considering her line of work, there is no telling if she will still be alive in twenty years, or dies at the hands of someone else."

There was silence. "But at least there would be a chance," Queen murmured before he looked to Batman. "Count me in."

"You do realize that if this is successful, you won't exist, at least in this incarnation," Batman told him.

"Bats, let me tell you something about me: my life sucks. I've lost my anonymity, I'm wanted by just about every form of law enforcement that exists, and I have to cook for myself. This world has gone to hell in a hand-basket and if there's a way to make sure it never comes about, then I'm all for it. Anything would be better than this."

"That also means I won't have this bug thing attached to me, right?" Jaime added, a hopeful look on his face. "I can lead a normal life."

Now that was a bit tricky. Considering the point in time Ra's was attempting to send the Dark Knight back to, it was possible his return could prevent his parents from meeting and thus prevent his birth. Perhaps his parents still get together regardless, but there were a lot of scenarios that could happen. Maybe they don't have kids, or one of them dies before Jaime's birth? The alternatives were endless.

However, he couldn't say all of that. Though it sickened him, they were going to have to lead Jaime down a path of self-destruction, whether it be his existence, or just this version of him. "It's definitely possible," he said as his tongue felt like it was rotting away in his mouth.

"I'm in too," the boy proclaimed.

"Me too! Me too!" Sung chimed in.

Soon, all eyes were on Holt, the one member who hadn't voiced his support. "This seems pretty outlandish to me," he admitted slowly, his face thoughtful. "But if everyone is willing to make a better world, then who am I to stand aside?" He then looked to Ra's. "But why can't we send Batman back in time now? What's the hold up?"

"As I've informed the Detective, because of the Regime, my resources are limited. The device in question requires a large power source and the only way to obtain that is to make sure the Regime is unable to interfere. At the very least, if we are unsuccessful in sending the Detective back, we will have reclaimed this world."

"So we're putting a contingency plan into place." Holt considered this before he snorted. "I guess I can get behind this. Lying low was starting to get boring too."

"Then we are in agreement," Ra's announced. "We all must make preparations for our attack and I highly advise you be ready. There is only one opportunity at this and we cannot afford to let it go."

"Nice speech," Queen quipped before nodding his head to Jaime. "But we're far from ready. I'm not sure how long your preparation is going to take, but the kid is going to need quite a bit. Unless you're willing to train him, then I'm not sure how much use he's going to be."

"That I will not be able to do," Ra's informed him. "It will have to be one of you that gives the boy instruction. There are three of you present that are fully capable of teaching him."

"Two," Batman interjected before he looked to Sung. "I want to see what Element Woman is fully capable of."

Queen raised an eyebrow at that. "You sure you want to do that? What if you get hurt? Then this entire plan of yours goes up in smoke."

"I can take care of myself. More importantly, you and Batwoman need to see to Jaime. The two of you should be able to help him get control of his powers."

The archer sighed. "Fine, whatever. Just don't get killed, okay? You're our golden ticket and I'd rather not…" he trailed off. "Wait, why does it have to be Batman? Why not one of us?"

"Because most of us exist and would create a paradox that could end the entire universe," Batwoman answered him bluntly. "He's the only one we can safely send back in time and not cause Armageddon."

"Oh. That actually makes sense in a sci-fi kind of way."

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: Eventually. One has to make a working prototype after all. I do have some plans for a couple more super moves, though which character it will be is up for debate.

To the second Guest reviewer: Thanks


	26. What Can You Do?

The room Starfire was in seemed lonely, dark, and unfriendly.

She was not too sure if she was supposed to like it.

Her good friend Cyborg had taken her in under his wing, just like she knew he would. They were good friends after all. Though his new friends seemed guarded around her, which she was unsure as to why, they had accompanied them to this Hall of Justice for introductions.

It was a big introduction too.

Even across the cosmos, the exploits of the Kryptonian called Superman were nothing short of legendary. Seeing him perched on his throne was like some sort of honor she had not expected to be given. As if his presence alone was not enough to overwhelm, so was Wonder Woman, the Amazonian Princess whose reputation was as great, if not equal to Superman's.

This was a great day indeed.

"Superman, Wonder Woman," Cyborg greeted them as he nodded to both in turn. "I'd like to introduce you to Starfire, a close friend of mine. She's here to help us out."

The dark-haired woman's eyes lit up upon seeing her. "I was unaware we had a Sister who wished to help uphold our hard won peace. It pleases me to meet you, Starfire."

"It is a pleasure for me as well, Miss Wonder Woman," the Tamaranian returned joyously. "This is a great day for me to meet all of you. It is a shame we had not been introduced when I was on Earth previously."

There was a warm smile on Wonder Woman's face. "I hope you don't mind if I ask you as to why you left."

"Oh, not at all. You see—"

"Star had to deal with some matters at home," Cyborg interrupted suddenly. He then whispered to her, "They aren't aware of how Tamaran governs itself so if you tell them everything, things won't go down so well."

That caused her to blink her eyes owlishly. "Whatever do you mean, Friend Cyborg?" she asked bewilderingly.

"Most people on this planet don't view coups favorably. If you tell Superman this, he might think you'll try to overthrow him."

"But of course I will," she announced loudly, which caused confused looks to appear on everyone's faces aside from Cyborg's, who looked at her in horror. "Does your planet not hold scheduled coups? When I was last here, you had one that took place every four years, where two groups of people would pick their representatives and they would fight it out until the end of the year. Whoever won, power would be bestowed upon them until the next coup."

There was silence before Cyborg questioned, "Are you talking about elections?"

"Yes, I believe that is what you call them. I am sure the next one is coming up soon, yes?"

"Is something wrong, Victor?" Wonder Woman asked as she took a couple steps towards them.

That shook Cyborg out of his stupor. "Oh, nothing that important, Wonder Woman," he told her quickly. "There was just an error in translation that needed to be corrected."

"And what error is that?"

"Umm, well," her friend stammered before ultimately answering, "She was confusing elections for coups. Her home planet has multiple...uhh, ' _elections'_ a year and she was hoping to...uhh, participate."

"Oh, I see." The Amazon came to stand next to the Tamaranian Princess. Placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a friendly squeeze, she said, "You do not have to worry about any elections. With Kal governing us, there is no need for them anymore."

 _What?_ "What do you mean?" Starfire exclaimed in confusion. "There are no more elections?"

"That is correct."

"But...but I liked that about your planet! It is why I would consider settling here if my banishment were to continue indefinitely!"

A frown appeared on Wonder Woman's face. "Banishment?" she questioned as she looked to Cyborg.

"Star lost her last election," he explained. "They sort of take things pretty personally there, so they exiled her."

"And this is common?"

"It is," Starfire assured her. "In fact, the first time I had come to Earth, I had been sold into slavery to Gordonians by my opponent."

"...I believe I must become more knowledgeable about the election customs on your planet," the dark-haired woman said after awhile.

"Which you can go into later," Cyborg spoke up hastily, then added under his breath, "much, _much_ later."

That was when Superman entered their conversation with his deep, friendly voice. "It would please us very much if you joined us," he said to her, which earned him a large smile from her. "I'm sure Cyborg can show you to some available quarters here in the Hall."

"I would very much like that. But first I must meet the others. It has been too long since I last saw Friend Raven and Friend Red Robin."

There was an immediately change in the room. Starfire, as optimistic as she naturally was, could feel the change in the air around her.

"Yeah, about that, Star," Cyborg began. "We need to have a talk."

* * *

"I'm...not exactly sure what you want me to do…"

Batman stood in an empty room, his arms crossed over his chest. The room used to be an interrogation room for suspicious travelers, but due to a lack of maintenance and the Bat Underground's need for space. It was now wide open with pieces of broken bricks creating a circle in the middle of the room, going up walls and across the ceiling and floor. That was where the double-tinted glass window had been.

Emily Sung was standing on the other side of the ring, arms behind her back, and looking very uneasy around him. She had been that way since they had entered here. The confidence she had walked with seemed to have abandoned her once they were alone.

He tended to have that effect on people.

"I want you to show me everything you can do," he told her succinctly. "If I'm going to fight with you, I need to know what you can do."

"Like what?" she asked nervously.

"The others said you could shape-shift when you met. Show me what you did there."

"Okay!" She then held her right arm out, changing it to a sleek, metal one. It had happened practically instantaneous.

"Is it only the arm?" he questioned.

"Oh no! I can do this with the rest of my body." He then watched as the metal seep up the rest of her arm and then her shoulder. The rest of her body followed suit until she was a standing statue of steel. "See?" she said, her voice sounding hollow.

"What else can you change into?"

"Anything I want."

"Show me."

What followed was a montage of just about any solid substance known to man. Steel gave way to tree bark, then stone, rubber, marble, and so forth. In fact, she became five different substances at once before returning to her original form. "What did you think of that?" she asked hopefully.

"Impressive," he acknowledged. "So are you limited to only solids?"

"Oh no, I can do anything down to the compound state." If there was any question to what she meant, it was answered the moment she became a figure of water. Batman could see right through her, seeing the small strings of air bubbles flowing from her feet and up to her head.

Then, she lost her form and fell to the floor, forming a puddle. That puddle then moved across the floor rapidly, dividing itself down the middle to move around the vigilante on both sides before rejoining together behind him. By the time he had turned around to look at her, her watery state had become more viscous. In fact, she began to bubble up until her color had become a bright red, giving off intense heat.

Was that lava?

The lava then burst into flames, a roaring fire that forced him to step back, holding an arm in front of his face as his other hand grabbed onto his cape, ready to pull it in front of him at a moment's notice. The material was fireproof, so it would provide some protection against this blaze. All the while, smoke wafted up to the ceiling, blanketing it as it filled the room.

The fire then died out, revealing the lava to have completely vanished. Batman blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. And there was still no sign that Sung was still there aside from scorch marks on the floor. Had she burned herself out?

"Up here!"

Jerking his head up, the vigilante watched the smoke hanging at the ceiling being to concentrate itself. A column began to lower until it stopped in front of his face, Sung's head forming until she was a ghostly apparition before him.

"See? I can do solid, liquids, _and_ gases," she bragged. "I can be your everything and more."

Well, that was definitely unexpected. She was indeed a shapeshifter, but taken to the pinnacle of such talents. He had seen shapeshifters before, fought them, devised strategies against them, but right then he was having a hard time coming up with one for this one. There wasn't a single trap he could devise that could account for every possible form she could take. He'd have to make it airproof, waterproof, heatproof, chillproof, acid proof, and the list went on. Theoretically, there was nothing on Earth that could contain her.

The rest of the smoke floated down from the ceiling, reforming her body. Her bizarre color scheme filled in a moment later until she was back to normal. "So what'cha think? Huh, huh, huh? Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

Awesome, incredible, there weren't too many words to describe her power. It was pure luck that Batwoman and Queen recruited her when they did. If the Regime had known about her, they would've released her long ago.

While he would've been reluctant had he been in any of their shoes, the fact that her mentality was that of a young girl would've helped keep her in line. He could practically see whoever was able to gain control of her, feeding her what they wanted her to know, and keeping her isolated so that she never found out the truth, they would have a powerful weapon. Yet, just as she was easy to control, she would also be impossible to stop if she felt betrayed.

However, though her mannerism were strange, the fact she knew she could create compounds at the molecular level hinted at a greater level of intelligence. "Tell me something," he said as she looked at him expectantly. "If I were to tell you the formula for thermite plasma, could you—"

Immediately, her body took on a gelatinous look. Her color became a bright orange that looked as if she would become lava again, yet the yellow-tinted air bubbles bubbling through her body indicated otherwise. "I know that one," she said proudly. "I did a research paper on it back in school."

And suddenly he thought there was a Ph. D behind Emily Sung's name.

"Alright then, here's a challenge," he said as Sung returned to her normal state.

* * *

Jaime felt like he was in a Kung Fu movie. There wasn't a fight going on, but it was at the point in the movie where the sensei was teaching their student about focus and control. You know, they would be doing that meditation stuff and suddenly have that moment of clarity that defined the main character.

So far, he hadn't had that eureka moment.

Batwoman sat across from him, cross-legged, and stared him down. Jaime was in a similar pose, but he wasn't blatantly looking at her. In fact, he was doing his best to keep his eyes closed, figuring that would help him focus, though it wasn't. Mr. Queen was standing up against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and looked as if he were falling asleep.

"Your mind is wandering," Batwoman said calmly, which caused him to stiffen. Somehow, someway, this red-haired woman seemed to know what he was thinking and when without him so much as uttering a peep. It was freaky.

"Remember how you grew wings?" she asked rhetorically before continuing, "use that to control your armor. Clear your mind and concentrate."

"That's easy for you to say," he grumbled lowly, not meaning for her to hear it. "You don't have a second mind in your head."

Of course, she heard every word. "What is it telling you to do?"

He sighed internally. Might as well cooperate since she seemed to have his best interest in mind. "It's telling me to ignore you. And there's something about not liking the light."

"Ah, the Scarab," she mused. "So it is sentient. Why don't you ask it how to use its powers?"

Jaime opened his eyes mostly so he could blink dumbly. Why hadn't he thought of that before? It seemed so logical that he could've slapped himself. "I, uhh, don't know how," he said lamely.

"You appear to be able to read its thoughts, so it should be both ways."

"I don't know what to say though."

Apparently, Mr. Queen's napping was a ruse as he spoke up then. "Just say 'hey, buddy, I'm Jaime and you're sharing my body. Can you tell me about yourself?' That's pretty straight forward."

That sounded way too contrived, yet the teen really couldn't think of anything else. Sighing, he then shifted on the floor to get comfortable before he reached out to the Scarab's presence in his mind. " _Hi,"_ he said to it, " _I'm, Jaime. Can I talk to you?"_

A sensation flooded his brain then, something that felt...well, startled. It was as if the Scarab hadn't expected contact from him. In fact, he could feel the Scarab squeeze its legs against his back, as if it were afraid it would be pulled off in an instant. " _Is everything alright?"_

There was confusion now. Huh, who would've ever thought a mystical bug would be socially awkward? Still, this was progress, even if it was a tiny baby step. He'd take it. " _Not to be nosy or anything, but I've noticed you can do things, like grow wings and make blaster things out of my hands. Is there anyway I can do that?"_

Apparently, that was too much for the Scarab as the confusion in the boy's head became more profound. Maybe he needed to make it simpler. " _How can I make hand blasters?"_ he asked this time.

The image of a question mark filled his head, meaning his question wasn't being understood. So Jaime thought about how he was supposed to talk with this thing when it clearly didn't understand words. When he had been in El Paso, he had just thought about wings until some grew out of his back. Faintly, he recalled having that blaster on his hand and firing it at Cyborg.

A sense of realization hit him then. Hey, maybe the Scarab understood pictures!

"Uhh, Jaime? Would you mind not pointing that at us?"

Opening his eyes, Jaime found his right arm extended out in front of him, his hand being replaced with the blaster. The same blaster was pointed right at Batwoman's face, who didn't seem all that taken back by it. He knew if he were in her boots, he'd be pretty nervous having something that could sear off his face being pointed at him, yet she was as calm as can be. In fact, it had been Mr. Queen that had requested he be careful.

Which he did, immediately dropping his arm down, the end of the barrel tapping on the floor. Batwoman just continued to stare at him until she asked, "So how did you make it?"

"I just showed the Scarab a picture of what I wanted," he answered her. "It didn't seem to understand words, but it definitely did pictures."

"What else can you make with it?"

That was a pretty good question. Before he could answer, the redhead prompted him. "Try something else. Anything at all."

Well, that was pretty broad. He really wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to do something lame, but he didn't want to do something incredibly dangerous either. So a cannon was out of the question, the same for a gun, his blaster notwithstanding. So what about a knife? Oh, what about a pincer!

Immediately, Jaime pictured a lobster claw in his mind, but this time he kept his eyes open and stared at his hands. His right hand soon began to change, losing length, but growing wider. Then right down the middle it separate and right then he had a pincer for a hand.

This was so cool.

"I did it!" he exclaimed as began opening and closing the claw, a tapping sound ringing out every time the pincers closed. "I can control this thing!"

"Now the real training begins," Batwoman said, not the least bit changing her face or tone. "You need to be able to make these changes instantly, instinctively. Any hesitation can mean death."

And suddenly it felt as if a bucket of cold water was poured all over Jaime. They...they were just beginning?

"Aw, c'mon," Mr. Queen said then. "Give the kid a moment. I'd be excited too if I just figured out how to use a superpower. Let him bask in it for awhile."

Batwoman looked to the blond man. "We don't have that sort of time."

"Sure we do. We just have to make it."

Right then and there, Jaime felt like Mr. Queen understood him. He was like the fun father when compared to Batwoman's strict mom. Not that he saw them as parents, but they definitely acted like it. "You two have known each other for a long time," he remarked.

"Some would say too long," the archer quipped.

Jaime got the feeling Batwoman was rolling her eyes now, an actual emotion from the previously stoic woman. "I feel that way sometimes."

"How long have you been doing all of this?" he asked then. He got the feeling they had a bunch of stories to tell and there would be some good ones.

Instead, he got a long, tired sigh from Mr. Queen. "Too long, kid. Way too long. Sometimes it feels as if life has always been this way."

That wasn't an answer he was expecting. But then, now that he thought about it, the Green Arrow had been an enemy of the state for as long as he could remember. The same with just about anyone that put on the Bat Symbol. He wondered why. "Why have you two been fighting all this time?"

Mr. Queen looked thoughtful at that. "Well, I can't speak for the lady here, but for me it started as principle. Superman and the Justice League got it in their heads that they could do whatever they wanted to make sure there was no crime or war and the methods they used were extreme. It got to the point where they were lobotomizing anyone that disagreed with them, then went full on killing them. Those aren't the actions of heroes, Jaime; they're the actions of despots."

That was profound, or so Jaime thought. He then looked to Batwoman. "What about you?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "I was around people that followed the example of Batman. No killing, ever. You could say I was indoctrinated into it."

Then her smile disappeared. "Then Superman lobotomized me because I was too much of a threat to his rule."

That got Jaime's attention. "I'm sorry," he sputtered out hastily. "I didn't know. I just…" he trailed off as he realized a small, significant detail about what the redhead had said. Mainly, how could someone be lobotomized and still be functioning? Wasn't that the same as making someone brain dead? "How are you here then? I mean, doesn't a lobotomy destroy your brain?"

"Someone gave their life to restore me," she answered succinctly. "And I was the last one he did it to. Now, I fight for his memory and those that were taken too early by the Regime."

This was a lot to take in. Both of these people were personally invested in this and Jaime just realized that they were entrusting him with the completion of their mission. The weight of that burden slammed down on his shoulders.

A part of him wanted to run away, get away as far as he could. It wasn't right, or fair that he was being forced into this! Yet, just as he had done minutes ago, he actually had power and he could use that power for the betterment of everyone. Those two sides were warring inside of him and he wasn't quite sure who he wanted to win.

To distract himself, he then asked, "If there's someone you want to fight, who would it be? You know, when we actually...go fight?"

"Wonder Woman," Mr. Queen immediately responded. He hadn't even needed to take a moment to think of it.

"Why her?"

The blond man took a moment to pause before he answered. "Just before the Regime revealed my identity, there was a woman I loved. Her name was Dinah and she was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. You would've liked her." The entire time, he was looking wistful, as if imagining this woman was right in front of him. Then his expression soured. "Wonder Woman chopped her head right off her shoulders with her sword."

Suddenly, Jaime didn't think this was a good question to ask. However, Mr. Queen wasn't about to let the subject end. "What about you Bat-lady? Anyone you want to fight?"

She shook her head. "I don't care who I fight. All I care about is taking each and everyone of them down. If I have to fight Superman to do so, you bet I will."

"Bull," the archer retorted. "Everyone has a wheel to grind with one person more than others. Who's yours?"

Batwoman leveled him with a cool gaze. "There's not a single person in the Regime that hasn't taken someone close to me. Superman lobotomized me, Wonder Woman killed Dinah and Zatanna, Green Lantern killed Black Lighting—the list goes on."

Yeah, this was a really bad question to ask.

* * *

Maybe John was okay with letting things lie, but Shayera wasn't. There was too much going on lately for it to be all coincidence.

That was the big reason she had come to Gotham on her own. The others were currently fawning over the new addition of Starfire and that was fine. She didn't have any real issue with adding more hands—they just had to be the right ones. While the Tamaran seemed friendly enough, whether she could stomach their rule remained to be seen.

They would be finding that out pretty shortly.

It had been a long time since she had flown along this particular part of coastline. Sure, she had been in Gotham, even as close to the harbor during the Red Lantern Invasion, but she hadn't been in this particular area in years. It reminded her too much of what used to be and she was a gal of the present.

Up ahead she saw the silhouette of a house long since forgotten by the world. There was a small line item in the budget that kept the place maintained, mostly for nostalgia. No one had actually lived there in years and no one with a brain in their head would come here to loot it.

Shayera ignored Wayne Manor. Instead, she made her way to a familiar, unused cave opening in the cliff's face. Angling inward, she flew down the tunnel, noting the tunnel looked much the same as it had the last time she had been here. That didn't mean much. All it meant was that no one had walked through here, which no one really had. Anyone could fly through the tunnel without leaving a trace, much like she was currently doing.

Eventually, the tunnel opened out into the main cavern and the Thanagarian found herself in the Batcave. Immediately, she frowned as she noticed the lights were on.

She knew for certain that the lights should have been off.

Soaring through the cave, she came to land by the supercomputer. Moving to the keyboard, she made to activate it, watching as it began to boot up. That at least was good. This hadn't been used in years.

Turning away, she began exploring the cave until she found the medbay. It was here her eyes narrowed as she stared at an actual bed, and an unmade one too. On a nearby table was a grocery bag filled with discarded food wrappers and crumpled paper bags.

Someone had been living here.

Had it been this new Batman? Or maybe someone else? Regardless, someone had been here underneath their noses this entire time and a cold fury was welling up within the Thanagarian.

Moving away from the medbay, she went right for the armory, following the path by the staircase to the house and going into the small tunnel. She found the door sealed shut, but that didn't matter to her. She knew how to open it.

Once the door was open, she was in the airtight room, staring down all of the gadgets and gear Batman had stored here. Adding to her ire, she noticed quite a few shelves were empty when they should've been full. However, what really got her attention was where the batarangs were kept. There were still the ones Batman had used, but next to them were ones she recognized as the ones Batwoman used.

 _She_ was the one living here.

Which meant that in order for her to know of this place, she had to have previous knowledge of it. No one just stumbled upon this place, not without activating the security protocols that had been put in place by the owner. She would know, she had activated them when the League had made to seal this place off from some random explorer.

She needed to think. Clearly Batwoman had used this as a base of operations. So where did this so-called Batman come into play? Had she trained him here? If that was the case, then they were expecting to come back here.

Except, what about the computer?

If there was a resource the Insurgency could use, it was that computer. While it wasn't as advanced as, say, Cyborg, it was a powerful tool. The fact that it was off meant they hadn't used it, or were intending to be away for awhile. Batman allowed the computer to go into hibernation mode when he went out, expecting to return later on. Considering this place ran off of its own generators, no one would've known if the computer was on; hell, no one knew it was still in use.

Leaving the armory, Shayera returned to the main cavern. This wasn't so she could go searching for further evidence, she had all she needed. She did so for a better signal. Activating her comm link, she called for her husband. "John, come in."

It took a moment before John answered her. " _Shayera, where have you been?"_ he demanded.

The redhead rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for his protectiveness. "Following up on a lead. How soon can you get to Gotham?"

" _Now's not a good time"_ he replied. " _The Insurgency struck again, this time at Stagg Industries in New York. Looks like they got their hands on the 5-U-93-R."_

That caused Shayera to scowl. Just great, now the Bat Underground had super pills on their side. This was going to be a headache for them. If only she was there to pick up on their trail.

No, no wait. Stagg Industries was meticulous in keeping track of all of their products. They usually kept tracking devices on everything. A smirk appeared on her face. It seemed the Insurgency had finally messed up.

"John, see if you can't activate the tracers on those containers," she said. "If I'm right, then they'll be taking those boxes to their headquarters and we'll know exactly where they are."

There was an approving tone in her husband's voice as he replied, " _You got it."_

"I'll alert the others to what's going on. I'm sure they'll all want a piece of this." She paused for a moment. "And we better bring the new girl too. This is going to be a good opportunity to see what she can do."

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: If the end of this chapter is any indication, that's coming quite soon

To the second Guest reviewer: Depends on the princess you're looking for

To the third Guest reviewer: The super pill is based off of the ones in the Injustice comic and video game. The pill the previous story mentioned is for something else entirely


	27. Clash In The Underground

They were gone.

All of her friends, all of the people she had come to love and cherish were dead, long since buried while she was on Tamaran. It...it was just too cruel. Even worse, Raven had only passed away mere days before her arrival.

It was heartbreaking. She could feel her heart breaking within her chest.

If only she had been there, maybe, just maybe she could have helped her friend stay alive. Better yet, she never should have left Earth. Red Robin, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, all of them would still be here and they would be laughing and joking and smiling, and...and…

A sob escaped Starfire's lips. Her cheeks were stained from tears, her eyes losing their bright glow. She was alone right now, far from detection of others. She wanted to be alone, needed to be alone.

The door in front of her opened, Cyborg standing there as light flooded around his body. "Star, you need to come out of the closet."

The Tamaranian looked up at her friend. She was seated on what she was told was called a bucket. This allowed her to rest her arms on her legs. It also made her look quite small and fragile. "I do not want to," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Cyborg sighed. "Look, Star, I know this is hard; hell, I'm still trying to make sense of Rachel. But you can't lock yourself away because it's hurts. The others wouldn't want that."

"But _I_ want to lock myself away," she countered. "It does not hurt as much in here." In fact, it felt safe in here, comforting even. Plus, no one else had died since she had come in here and she was determined to continue that result.

Her friend looked away from her, looking around the closest. "Yeah, this does look comfy. Kinda wish I had found it earlier." He returned his gaze to her. "But right now, you're needed. How would you like to get at the people _responsible_ for their deaths?"

That got Starfire's attention. She had not even thought of revenge. She frowned slightly. Something told her their deceased friends would not want her to. "I do not understand," she replied slowly.

"All of us are being mobilized. We have a chance to end the last line of conflict on this planet. You know that's what we've been fighting for all of this time. Just imagine a world without fighting and hurting."

A smile began to appear on her face. "I like a place without fighting and hurting."

Cyborg held a hand out to her. "Then c'mon, let's make it happen."

Reaching a hand out, Starfire place it in her friend's much larger one. A thrill went through her at the prospect of bringing peace to a world long infested by violence. She could do this; she could do this for her long lost friends.

* * *

The old Gotham Underground was bustling with activity. Whatever Ra's al Ghul had ordered them to do, they were hard at work to see it to fruition. It was fascinating to watch. There was an old, rusted section of metal railing that stood all by itself, which Batman had taken to standing behind, leaning forward on it with his forearms resting on top of it as he observed the activity.

"What do you think Ra's is planning?" Batwoman asked as she came to stand next to the Dark Knight. It had been a while since the two of them had talked since they had been investing their time to getting Jaime and Emily Sung up to speed. Their respective training was coming along, which only helped their cause.

"Whatever it is, it'll be big," Batman said resignedly. They were well past the point of making small moves, at least if he factored in his knowledge of the Demon's Head. The closer they got to the endgame, the bigger the move Ra's made. Soon, they would be in the thick of battle, fighting for the future.

The future…

This was all the world's future, or what it come be. If they were successful, he could single-handedly change it all for better or worse. There was the possibility that no matter what they did here and what he ultimately did in the past, this would all happen again.

He was familiar with many theories when it came to time travel. The most common one was that any change, no matter how big or small, could change everything. Another, less considered theory, was that time fought change, that one small difference was like a ripple in a river, which was washed away in an instant. The future was inevitable no matter the resistance to it.

It seemed Batman would be getting a front row seat as to which theory would prove itself to be true.

Yet, he found himself wondering just what was certain. For instance, his thoughts largely revolved around Cassandra. In his absence, she had become a strong, independent woman, fully invested in the crusade he had started so long ago. After all the adversity she had faced, from her upbringing until now, she still adhered to his philosophy, the biggest being his no killing rule. He had never been one to give into thoughts of heirs, but if there was anyone that had earned that right, it was her.

Except, was the woman standing next to him the same woman the one he had known would grow up to be?

"You're brooding."

Those words shook Batman out of his thoughts, causing him to look to the young woman next to him. That gave him pause. If he thought about it, Cassandra was actually older than him right now. Huh.

"I remember hearing the others say how you could out brood a gargoyle," Batwoman continued, not the least bit put off by his lack of reaction. "Of course, I heard this after you were being thrown through time. I never got the meaning of it until now."

The dark-clad man grunted in response. It wasn't the first time someone had said that about him and he doubt it would be the last. A small smile appeared on the woman's face. "What are you thinking about?" she asked patiently.

Deciding to humor her, he said, "I was wondering how much of this will change once I go back. If this is indeed the future that's destined to happen, if the people are here destined to be here."

"Ah, deep thoughts."

Batwoman crossed her arms over her chest, placing her weight on one leg with she bent the other at the knee. "For what it's worth, I hope it's better than this." She hung her head down slightly. "I know if I was in your shoes, I would be very disappointed with how everything has turned out."

"I have to admit I am in some aspects," he replied, "but in others, some things turned out better than anything I could've expected."

She snorted. "I don't see how."

"You, for one."

Batwoman paused at that before she slowly her head to look at him. "Do...do you really mean that?"

"The last time I saw you, you were a phenomenal fighter with an extreme learning deficit," he told her bluntly. "Now you're a fully functioning woman that has continued to fight in what she believes in. I couldn't be any prouder of you."

The dark-clad woman swallowed deeply. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but looked away. Then, very softly, "You don't know how much that means to me."

They were silent for a moment, right up until Queen approached them. "Hey, you two, that Ghul friend of yours is summoning us."

"We'll be right there," he told the archer, who nodded before walking back to the conference room. Looking to Batwoman, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I am," she reassured him. "I just need a minute."

They never got that minute. Before either one of them could move, one of the walls blew apart, sending large chunks flying through the air. Many of the Bat Underground went running for cover to avoid the raining debris. Smoke hid the hole from sight, but that would only last for so long.

Unfortunately, that hid the cause of the blast as well, though to be honest, there weren't too many thing that it could be that weren't good for them.

"Alert the others," Batman ordered Batwoman, not tearing his eyes from the smoke. No way would he take chances with this, not at this stage. "Order an evacuation for all members of the Bat Underground. I'm not sure what caused that, but we can't take any risks."

Batwoman didn't bother responding to him, instead turning around and running towards the conference room. Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out a bat-shaped shuriken, moving around to stand in front of the rusted railing. Throughout the room, he could see the members of the Insurgency beginning to clear the area, heading for the nearest exits. Some were heading right for the main ones, which were big mistakes in his mind, but at the moment there wasn't much he could do. If this is what he thought it was, those that took the obvious ways out were going to be captured by whatever troops the Regime had brought here.

After all, that was the only people who it could be.

As the smoke began to dissipate, a green light became visible, the figure of John Stewart floating into view shortly after. He had a stern look on his face, holding his ring hand up before him, ready to use it at a moment's notice.

Behind him and to the right came Shayera, mace in hand and without her hawk mask. To the left was a young man in red and white, a cape billowing behind him. From the files that Ra's had gave him to study on the Regime, that must have been Shazam, the boy-turned-man with the strength of Superman.

Suddenly, a burst of fire emerged from the floor to the left of Lantern's group, right before a set of stacked crates. Smoke wafted up from the flames until two figures emerged, a woman in green and a blond, shirtless man. That must've been Enchantress and Aquaman respectively.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, a loud _BOOM!_ rang out, a familiar tunnel of light appearing far to the right of the two Regime groups. Predictably, Cyborg emerged from the light, accompanied by an orange-skinned woman with flowing red hair and…

 _Diana._

Of the League members he personally knew, they all wore severe expressions on their faces, as if they were ready to go to war. The ones he wasn't as familiar ranged from serious to cocky to eager.

Diana moved to stand at the center of the ground, even as her three floating comrades came to land behind her. "So this is where you Insurgents have been hiding," she declared, even as her eyes fell onto him. Even from this distance, he saw her blue eyes light up with fury.

"You," she said with such venom in her voice, Batman was stunned by it. "You I will personally rip your head from your shoulders."

That was unexpected. Still, the Dark Knight didn't let it throw him off guard too much. He needed to buy as much time so the others could escape. From where he stood, he knew where he could go to escape this place.

"That's hardly the greeting I was expecting," he said dryly as he began to take a measured step towards the group. He even pocketed his shuriken, though his mind was screaming at him not to do so. Going up to these people armed would surely set them off as much as his presence seemed to.

"You're lucky you got that much," John shot back from Diana's left, his aura growing brighter around him before dimming back to its normal brightness.

"Let me guess, you would've gone for a kill shot had your showy entrance not blinded you with smoke," the vigilante responded with contempt. "That's not the Green Lantern I remember."

"Oh, great," Enchantress moaned dramatically. "He's gonna recount his fading memories to us."

Batman ignored the jab. "Mind telling me what the hell you are doing? The last I checked, killing was not part of the Justice League charter. What did you do, tear it up while I was gone?"

Some confusion appeared on Shazam's face, then concern. "Umm, guys?" he asked hesitantly. "Is there's a charter?"

"Don't let him rattle you, Shazam," Shayera told him, not even bothering to look at the young man.

"You speak as if you know us, Imposter," Diana then said. "Cease with these head games before you sully the man you pretend to be any further."

Head games, huh? He had yet to play any. Though taking off his mask would have proved who he was beyond a doubt, no way would he do so around so many others. It went against the entire purpose of the mask. He would just have to lead the three founding Leaguers to the correct conclusion. "Games?" he parroted, sounding startled. "You've caught me a little off guard here, I have to admit. I don't have the nanobots or the fear toxin for you and Lantern ready. Makes taking you down a little more difficult, but I think I can manage."

A frown appeared on Diana's face, but she remained silent. He had thrown her off at least, though John looked unfazed. So he set his sights on Hawkgirl. If there was one person he could get, it was her.

"But then, I better not be reckless," he said, directing his words to the winged woman. "I haven't found the battlefield worthy of my death just yet, kinda like that friend of yours, Hawkgirl. I'm not ready to waste my second chance after all."

Those had been words she had told him during the Kalanorian Invasion and it had been words that had stayed between them. She hadn't said a thing to the rest of the League nor had he. Because of this, he saw her eyes widen in recognition.

"Okay, all this guy is saying gibberish," Enchantress declared as she took a step forward. "Nanobots? Fear toxin? Second chances? What the hell is he even talking about?"

"Shut it, Enchantress," Hawkgirl snapped, leveling a warning look to the green-clad woman. Then she looked back to Batman. "It's really you, isn't it?" she said cautiously. "No one knows about that conversation."

"What conversation?" John questioned, directing a curious look to the redhead.

"One that Batman and I had when Despero had captured the rest of you," she told him, not returning his look. "The only way he would know about it is if that is the real Batman."

That was one down. Now onto the next one. "You know, I've always been curious," the dark-clad man spoke up, "when I gassed you at Etemenanki, Lantern, what did you see? It must have been quite frightening since you couldn't stop screaming. I had to knock you out to shut you up." He could see his words hit home for the Green Lantern, as well as the curious looks he was receiving from the other Regime members, so he focused right on Diana. "I don't need to guess about you, Princess, since I designed that virtual world for you. I was worried about the green armor might tip you off, but in the end I figured you couldn't resist a good challenge."

That clenched it, at least for the three former Justice League members. "It really is you," Diana spoke softly, unconsciously taking a step towards him. Gone was her anger and in its place was trepidation. Realization was on her lovely face, slowly being replaced by joy. "But how? How did you come to be here?"

"Some things are best left unsaid," he replied as he allowed his cape to slip down his shoulders and cover his body. "Besides, it's a long story and I don't think your new friends will let me get through it."

"I've heard enough!" the blond Aquaman declared as he shoved his way past Enchantress and moved to stand before Diana, incidentally proving the Dark Knight right. "You are an enemy of the Regime and that has sealed your fate."

Fury returned to Diana's eyes and she shot a hand up, the back of her hand making a dull thud against the marine man's chest. There must have been some strength behind it as the man actually backed up a step, turning to look at the Amazon with surprise. "You will not—" she began.

Only to be interrupted as a green arrow flew right over Batman's shoulder, curving downward through the air until it embedded its head into the floor at two Regime members' feet. There was a long cylinder attached to the shaft, a series of glowing red numbers that changed rapidly. It only took Batman a moment to realize what it was.

A timer.

Suddenly, the arrow exploded, sending the entire Regime flying backwards through the air from the blast. Batman instinctively went into a crouch, leaning backwards as he held his cape up in front of him in case pieces of debris flew at him. The meta-humans hit the ground throughout the room, some having crashed into the crates and barrels scattered throughout before landing.

"Well, well, well, looks like we have some unwanted visitors," Queen called out as he came walking up to the vigilante's side. Turning to look, the dark-clad man saw the rest of the Insurgents following suit. He couldn't see Ra's or Mr. Terrific, but that was probably because they were towards the back of the group.

Why the hell hadn't they escaped?

"Bruce!" Diana shouted, causing him to snap back around. The dark-haired woman was pushing herself onto her feet, a look of hurt and disbelief on her face. "You would align yourself with our enemies?" she demanded incredulously. "How could you?"

"I could ask you the same thing?" he shot back sternly. "Just how many people have you killed? Whose blood still drips from your hands?"

"You are mistaken," she declared defiantly, even as the rest of her comrades got to their feet. "You do not know the full story. You have been blinded by lies."

That was when Shazam flew by her, racing right towards the Dark Knight. Apparently, diplomacy was over as the dark-haired man's hardened face indicated.

That was when Batwoman stepped in front of the Dark Knight, holding an arm up. To his amazement, a handle emerged out of her gauntlet and moved in front of her palm, where she grabbed onto it. A small missile then emerged from a compartment on top of her gauntlet, firing a moment later right for the approaching Shazam. There was no time for him to avoid the missile as it hit him head on, another explosion erupting, causing multiple people to cry out. Smoke blocked the Insurgency's view of the Regime and vice versa.

That was until a blast of green energy flew through the cloud, much to the surprise of the Insurgents. It wasn't the smooth beam of a Lantern ring, but a more of a fireball. The blast hit Batwoman in the chest, blasting her backwards and into Batman, causing the both of them to sail through the air and knock down the railing, flying until they hit the wall far behind them.

Wincing as they hit the ground, Batman had his arms wrapped around the redhead pressed against him. With his eyes cracked open, he saw the orange-skinned woman come flying through the cloud, crackling green energy surrounding her both of her hands. Drawing a hand back, she threw one of the blasts at the rest of the Insurgents.

"Ooooh, I got this!" Sung exclaimed as she suddenly moved in front of the approaching blast. Holding both of her hands in front of her, they stretched forward and melded into each other, then exploding outward. Steel formed until a large shield covered the shape-shifter, Queen, and the others. The energy blast hit the shield, allowing it to detonate in a wave of green fire, but caused no further harm.

"Good job!" Queen shouted in congratulations even as he pulled an arrow from his quiver. Before he could notch it though, Jaime was suddenly at his side forming one of his arms into a rather large blaster, blue energy blowing from it. Shouting, he fired a large blue beam, one that caught the orange-skinned woman off guard. She threw her other green blast at the approaching beam, but it did nothing but disintegrate as Jaime's attack blew through it, then slammed into her. She screamed as she was blasted away.

"Nice save, Kid," the archer complimented the boy before he raised his notched bow, taking aim with his arrow. "Now it's my turn."

Seeing the focus was gone from him, Batman took that moment to look down to the woman in his arms. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

He saw Batwoman wince as she shifted against him. "Yeah, I will be," she grunted back. "That blast packed a punch, though."

"That's it!" someone roared angrily, causing both of them to return their attention to the battlefield. The smoke from Queen's exploding arrow from earlier had finally cleared, revealing Enchantress with a look of rage on her face. She had her arms raised to shoulder height, bent at the elbow so that her forearms and hands hung down. Green energy began to spark and crackle from her palms similar to the girl with the red hair, but unlike hers, this energy felt more sinister and malevolent.

"Umm, I hope that arrow can handle a really angry woman," Jaime told Queen.

The blond man paused even as he kept his bowstring drawn back. "I think I might need a different arrow."

"I hope you're all ready to be charbroiled," she threatened then as she moved her glowing hands up and behind her head. "Because you all will be burn by hellfire!" Throwing her hands forward, she sent the green blast flying towards them.

That was when the most unexpected thing occurred. Right between the two groups, a golden light appeared, growing brighter until a large symbol of an ankh appeared, radiating a soft glow around it. Enchantress' attack flew right into it, seeming to disintegrate before it even touched the ankh.

Then, right in the middle of the symbol, Dr. Fate emerged, cape ruffling behind him as he held his arms out at shoulder height. "That is enough," he declared, his voice seeming to will everyone into submission.

Enchantress seemed to visibly tremble at the sight of him. "Dr. Fate," she whispered in disbelief. "You...you've come out."

"You threaten to plunge the world into chaos with this skirmish," the sorcerer warned, keeping himself hovering in midair. "And it is not time for this fight. Begone from this arena."

"I don't think so, pal," John retorted heatedly. "We're going to finish this fight once and for all."

There was a short silence before Fate replied coolly, "So be it. If _you_ will not leave, then _they_ will."

Suddenly, another ankh appeared below Fate's hovering feet, then stretched itself along the floor until it was beneath all of the Insurgents. Batman stared at it curiously before the light the symbol gave off became brighter. It became so bright in fact, he had to shut his eyes due to the burning pain he felt through his eyeballs.

By the time he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the Gotham Underground.

* * *

Diana felt numb.

For the last twenty years, a man she had thought long dead had returned from the grave. Her heart had actually stopped beating in her chest when she had come to this realization. She had cycled through Hera knows how many different scenarios that would explain why he was there. Suspended animation, evil clone, alternate dimension—there were just so many possibilities, no matter how outlandish some of them could be. Though he had only given small details, they were details only a small handful would know, so that limited some potential options.

But why was Bruce against them?

If there was anyone that would've appreciated their efforts, it would be him. They had struck fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere. They enforced the law, allowing ordinary citizens to not fear leaving their homes. It was everything he had done in Gotham, yet on a larger scale.

Yet, he stood defiantly before her and the others.

That was the one part that baffled her, at least until she saw the leaders of the Insurgency appear behind him. Batwoman and Oliver Queen had gone out of their way to interrupt their conversation, making sure Diana could not tell him how things had come to be. It made sense that they had told Bruce a twisted version of what the Regime had accomplished, offering enough evidence to make whatever lies they told sound plausible.

She needed to get him alone, away from the poisoning influence of the Insurgency, so she could tell him how things truly were. He would see it her way, she just knew it.

"I still can't believe it," Enchantress said for what felt like the tenth time. The green-clad woman had been trembling ever since the appearance of that Dr. Fate person. "That was really him, Fate. Fate actually left his tower."

"You're going to have to be clearer than that," John grumbled towards the sorceress, arms crossed over his chest. He, like the others, had been less than thrilled that this Dr. Fate had spirited the Insurgency away right before their eyes. He had summoned the symbol of the ankh and when it was gone, so were Batman and the others.

Enchantress sighed loudly. "Dr. Fate is one of the most powerful sorcerers to ever live. With his power, he could create countless worlds while destroying others simultaneously. Yet, he hasn't done this because he has opted for neutrality. The only time he acts is when to ensure order."

"He didn't seem all that neutral to me," the Green Lantern growled lowly. "If he's for order like you say he is, he should've kept that stupid helmet of his out of our way. This should have ended today."

"You're assuming we would've won though," the sorceress retorted. "Sure, we had numbers, but if having greater numbers worked, then you hero types would've been defeated a long time ago. How long is your list of super villains again? I'm willing to bet if all of them joined forces, they could've killed each and every one of you by sheer numbers alone. I mean, look at Shazam! He's lost his muscle and has a pizza face!"

That was something worth considering. The missile Batwoman had fired at the boy-turned-man had been powerful enough to throw him to the other side of the room, along with cancelling out his magic, which reverted him back to Billy Batson. He was still lying unconscious on the floor, Cyborg's friend kneeling next to him to wake him up.

"She's got a point," Shayera agreed. "I didn't see that one coming and I have to admit it was partly because of Batman. He distracted us enough to make us drop our guard. I mean, he admitted not having his countermeasures against us on his person; it never occurred to me his friends would have them."

"Hold on, what do you mean countermeasures?" Cyborg demanded as he entered the conversation.

The Thanagarian turned to the mechanical man. "A long time ago, Batman, this man you fought in El Paso, had developed strategies to take down the entire Justice League. Long story short, they worked."

There was a silence before Enchantress surmised, "So what you're saying is that there's a man that knows how to take all of us down and we let him get away."

"We just have to find him again," John replied then. "He was caught once, it can happen again."

"Except he knows we will be after him," Shayera pointed out. "I'm betting he wasn't expecting you to attack him when you first met, right? This isn't going to be some cakewalk."

That was true enough. Whenever Bruce didn't want to be found, you were not going to find him, be it Gotham, the Watchtower, or just about anywhere. You had to out-think him, predict where he would be going, and wait for him to arrive. The problem came in was that he was on the run now, his starting point unknown thanks to Dr. Fate. They had effectively lost him.

Except, Diana had gotten to know him before he disappeared again. She understood his thinking better than anyone, or so she thought. Right now, Bruce believed they, his friends, were in the wrong. So he would prepare himself for their next confrontation.

The best place for him to prepare was, of course, the Batcave.

Unfortunately, the only people she trusted to watch that location was John and Shayera, and she needed them in the immediate future. It would be only an hour or two, but by then she could do it herself.

No, this needed to be done now.

"Shayera," she said, getting the Thanagarian's attention. "Can you take Arthur to the Batcave? If Bruce is going to go anywhere, it will be there."

"Are you sure?" she questioned. "I mean, he knows we know he's out there. That would be the last place I would go if I were him."

"That's very possible, yet, if he's desperate, he will return there. There is more than one way into that cave system and he probably has a few of them in mind. We need eyes there."

"Got it."

"And once you're done, come to the Hall of Justice. We need to inform Superman."

"How about the rest of us?" Enchantress asked as she placed a hand on her hip. "Do you need all of us there?"

Diana shook her head. "No. For the time being you are free. Cyborg, I'll need you to work on that project of yours. No more interruptions."

"Roger that," Cyborg responded.

"As for the rest of you, I'll need someone to check to see if any of the Bat Underground was captured. Interrogate them to see what they know."

Enchantress' eyes lit up. "Oh, I'll do that! Pick me, pick me, pick me!"

Diana rolled her eyes. "Very well, I leave that responsibility to you."

"Oh, Wondy, I knew there was a reason why I joined you guys. You know how to delegate so well."

"Just get it done," the Amazon snapped. "If anyone wants to join Enchantress, do so; otherwise, you're on reserve." She then turned away from the others, walking towards the exit. "You all have your assignments. See to them."

* * *

To Guest: By this point, I'm pretty sure you've found out lol


	28. The Vault

Batman had no idea where he was. That was in part thanks to Dr. Fate magically teleporting him to points unknown. In this case, he was in some forest God knows where.

It was better than the alternative though, namely being at the mercy of the Regime.

When he had seen Diana, John, and Hawkgirl, he didn't really see too much change in them. John perhaps had become angrier, but he was still as reserve and outspoken as he usually was. Hawkgirl was still snide and quite sharp. As for Diana, she was as stubborn and self-righteous as ever. Perhaps his prejudices were getting to him him; when he had heard how they had taken to murdering people, he had assumed that meant a change in character. In this instance, perhaps their current personalities were logical extensions rather than wholesale change.

That bothered him more than he liked.

For now they were safe. Cassandra was resting beneath one of the trees, her mask and wig off, allowing her face to be visible. She seemed the most relaxed he had seen of her these last few days and he was loathed to wake her. She had taken the brunt of an energy blast and she needed time to recover.

Which was why Batman was standing guard. He kept close to his charge, but he was on high alert for anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, being in a forest led to all sorts of animals scampering about and insects buzzing, which only made him more paranoid.

He sighed. What were they supposed to do now? The others were in places unknown and he was at least maintaining radio silence. No doubt the Regime was on high alert and scanning broadcast frequencies to locate them. They would find them if they used the comm links to contact each other, thus the radio silence.

Kneeling down next to Cassandra, Batman watched her sleep. Absently, he brushed some of her hair off of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Her face twitched at that, but she didn't make any other movement as her chest continue to rhythmically rise and fall. It seemed a damn shame to have to rouse her soon.

That's when he noticed it—a light. A few trees away, a small sparkle of light had appeared out of thin air, which set off warning alarms in his head. Immediately, his hands went to Cassandra's shoulder and he began to shake her. "Wake up," he hissed, his eyes never leaving the light.

Instantly, the dark-haired woman was up, shooting up to a sitting position, arms bracing her up from behind. "What is it?" she snapped, looking around until her eyes found the light as well.

As if on cue, the light gliding towards them, growing bigger until its golden shine became a light blue, the symbol of an ankh at its core. " _Batman, Batwoman,"_ the hallowed voice of Dr. Fate greeted them.

Simultaneously their shoulder's sagged. "It's only you, Fate," Cassandra groaned, twisting her torso to a side so she could grab her discarded mask and wig. "What do you want?"

" _I am only checking on you to see if you are alright. The others were disoriented upon my teleporting of their persons."_

"I wonder why," Batman said dryly.

Fate ignored his sarcasm, instead proceeding to his primary message. " _I have instructed the others to remain off of their communication devices and I extend the same request to you. Further communication will be administered through myself."_

That wasn't a terrible idea actually. Though the dark-clad man was suspicious of magic by nature, using it to maintain contact would insure they stayed off of the Regime's radar. " _I have also instructed them to move into position for our strike. Oliver Queen and Michael Holt are on their way to Motor City while Jaime Reyes and Emily Sung I have under my protection at the Tower of Fate. I will put them in place when the time requires it."_

"What about Ra's?" Batman inquired.

" _He is taking charge of his own preparations. As for you_ —"

"We will be moving into our own position," the vigilante interrupted, which caused Cassandra to look at him with questioning eyes. "I'll trust you to make sure Jaime and Sung aren't put into unfavorable situations."

" _You will have three days to make your preparations,"_ Dr. Fate said, accepting his words. " _Be in place before then, or pray for a swift death. I will contact you on that day and not before."_

The orb of light grew brighter, the ankh within it vanishing from sight. The light then faded, a round medallion floating in its place, slowly descending to the ground where it landed on its back. Cautiously, Batman moved to the piece of jewelry, picking it up in his hand to examine it.

There were three blue gems, each forming a triangle within the borders of the medallion, a small hole at its center. There were various symbols, a couple of which he recognized, but others he did not. It was cool to the touch and lacked a chain.

"I take it that's how we contact him if we need to," Cassandra surmised as she studied it as well. She then looked up to him. "Where are we supposed to go?"

Well, there wasn't much point in hiding it from her. "We'll be striking at the heart of the Regime: the Hall of Justice."

That caused her eyes to widen. "Are you nuts? Security will be extremely tight! That's not to forget the other members of the Regime being there."

"Most of whom will be not be present," he replied evenly, "if our distractions work, of course."

"But that still means Superman will be there."

"I know."

Realization dawned on Cassandra's face. "You're going to fight him, aren't you? Why? Why would you do that against the most dangerous man in the world?! He'll kill you! And then all of this will be for nothing!"

"No, he won't." He gave the dark-haired woman a look, one that expressed his disapproval in her doubt. "I have something that will help even the odds against him, which we're going to go get. It's located at the Cave, so we better hurry."

There was a wariness on Cassandra's face as she studied his confident expression. "Are you positive this will help? If you aren't, I'm not going to let you set foot in Metropolis, much less the Hall of Justice."

Batman closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. When he opened then, he said, "Whether you want it or not, this was always going to come down between me and him. We can send wave after wave of men at the Regime, but it will not fall as long as Superman is in control. I take him out and the Regime will crumble—everything else is just the opening fight card."

"But you won't kill," she countered. "And he will. That's a massive difference when it comes to fighting. You'll hold back and he won't. No weapon you have, no armor you can wear can withstand that."

The Dark Knight raised a hand and grabbed her shoulder. "Do you trust me?" he asked her.

That caused her to frown. "What kind of question is that? Of course I—"

"No," he interrupted her. "Do... _you_...trust me. Think and then answer."

She paused, taking his words in. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she considered his words and question. Then she sighed in resignation. "Yes, I do."

"Then trust me when I tell you I _will_ win. This nightmare _will_ end."

A small, sad smile appeared on her face. "I wish you could've been here ten years ago to say that. I don't know what it is, but I can't help but believe you when you say that. Makes me feel warm and safe, like..." she trailed off before lowering her head. "Please don't make fun of me or anything, but it makes me feel like I'm a little girl and you're my dad scaring away the monster under my bed. Sounds silly, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't. We may not be related by blood, but you're just as much my family as anyone. Never forget that."

Cassandra stared at him for a moment before she swallowed deeply, her eyes beginning to water. "I won't," she practically whispered.

"Good." He released her shoulder as he stood up. "Now let's go."

* * *

Superman stared hard at Diana, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched tightly. His hands were clutching at the ends of the armrests, his knuckles beginning to become white from the tension.

"You're sure about this?" he questioned after awhile, glancing from the Amazon to John and Shayera. They were the only ones in the room, just the way Diana wanted it. This was a moment for the original Justice League and only them.

"It's him," Shayera answered him, taking a step closer. "He knows too many thing about us that only he would know."

"Did you unmask him? Did you actually see his face?"

Diana shook her head. "No, but—"

"Then you can't know for sure if this is Bruce," Superman interrupted her, causing a flash of anger to well up within her. "We need more solid proof than just a feeling. For all we know, this isn't even our Bruce."

"I did consider that," the dark-haired woman said through clenched teeth, the only hint at her ire. "But tell me, Kal, would you need more definitive proof to know if Lois was Lois?"

The two heroes stared each other down through glares, but ultimately it was the Kryptonian who relented. "I suppose you have a point," he reluctantly admitted, "but I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt. Even Batman would find out that much."

Unfortunately, that was a good point for Kal, as loathed as Diana was to admit it. "Very well," she acquisition.

"In any case, we need to at least plan as if this is the real deal," Shayera interjected. "If this is some case of mistaken identity, then there's no way this guy will hurt us in the long term. Maybe he causes some damage, but that'll be it. If this is Bruce, he can do a lot more with less."

"I agree," John chimed in, the first time since they had all congregated here. "He knows our weakness; what's to say he isn't coming up with more countermeasures?"

"Agreed," Kal responded. "Where are we on that?"

"We've already stationed Arthur in the Batcave," Diana informed him. "If Bruce has come up with new countermeasures, he'll need the use of his cave to build them, or design them. When we checked the Bat Underground's base, we found nothing that could have been of use to him, nor be used against us."

"Aquaman was a good choice," the dark-haired man said. "But I want one of us to be there. While Aquaman can hold his own, he'll likely underestimate Bruce, and Bruce will take advantage of that, especially on his home turf."

"I will be relieving him once this meeting is over," Diana replied, which earned her some startled looks from the others. "When Bruce was still with us, I was the one that practiced with him the most. If there's anyone that can take him on in a one-on-one fight, it will be me."

"Very well," Kal spoke slowly, if uncertainly. He then looked to John and Shayera. "What about you two?"

"We'll be trying to figure out where Dr. Fate sent the Insurgency," John answered for the both of them. "We have Enchantress on interrogation duty with the Insurgents we caught, so we should be finding something out pretty soon."

"Good. I'll be expecting progress," he told them. "Now go. There's a lot to consider with this new revelation and I'd rather not sit here waiting for the worst case scenario to come true."

* * *

Starfire was bored. Ever since the raid on what the others called the "Bat Underground," she had largely been left alone. She had made sure that the Billy Batson boy received medical attention, but that left her with little to do and a growing sense of restlessness. Friend Cyborg was in a different city altogether, which left her all alone in this place of strangers.

This had prompted the Tamaranian to go explore this Hall of Justice place. The design was not to her taste since it clearly lacked the Tamaranian influences in architecture. This left her in a foreign arena that felt quite uninviting. This was by no means the fault of the Earthlings since they did not know any better, but it would have been a nice gesture on their part.

Currently, the redhead was exploring a long hallway. It was narrower than the ones she had been in previously, not to mention more drab in color. For a moment, she felt like she had wandered down a wrong hall. Perhaps she had.

That was until she heard a scream.

"Trouble!" she immediately declared, her eyes glowing green as she flew down the corridor. It had not been a scream of surprise, or pleasure, that she was sure of. It was one that was filled with pain, as if someone had been harmed. In fact, it was growing louder the further down the hallway she went.

Finally, she reached a dead end, or so it appeared. At the very end of the hallway was a door, one that seemed to give off an ominous feeling. This must be where the screaming came from. Opening the door, she flung it open and charged into the room.

And immediately came to a stop. The room itself was small and cold, lacking any sense of comfort. At its center was a table with a man strapped down to it. Standing with their back to the Tamaranian Princess was the green-dressed witch, Enchantress. She held a hand over the man, a sickening green aura flowing from her palm and out over her captive's chest. The man's body was arching up off the table, spasming as he grunted, moaned, and cried out in pain.

Enchantress stopped the green glow and the man collapsed back onto the table, panting as he tried to recover. Despite Starfire's entrance, neither one of them looked at her. "You know, I can do this all day," the witch remarked glibly, raising her hand to her face so that she could examine her fingernails. "In fact, I'm going to; but, you can always just tell me where your little friends have gone and I'll end it here and now. The choice is yours."

Incredibly, the man merely looked at her behind a set of glasses, eyes barely cracked open. "Do your worst, witch woman. I won't break."

The green-clothed woman seemed to pause then. Because she was staring at her back, Starfire was not sure what she was doing. She could have looked enraged, upset, or disinterested for all she knew. What she did know was whatever her expression, Enchantress moved the hand she had been examining, flicking it over her captive as a green bolt of energy shot from the tip of her index finger. The bolt zapped the man, causing him to wince.

"Have it your way, buddy," Enchantress said as she then held both of her hands out above him, her palms facing each other. An ominous green orb formed between them, threatening promises of all sorts of harm. "Just know that once I start, I won't be stopping. You can tell me anything—truth, lies, your grandma's secret apple pie recipe—this won't stop until you're black and charred."

"Stop this!" Starfire demanded as she rushed towards the two, both of whom looked over to her, Enchantress with a look of surprise while the man stared warily. The Tamaranian shoved Enchantress away, which caused whatever spell she was conjuring to disappear. She then deliberately placed herself between the two, eyes glowing with anger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" the green-clothed woman demanded heatedly, storming up to her. "I was in the middle of—"

"Torturing this man," Starfire interrupted her, not backing down. "I will not condone this!"

"That really isn't up to you, Princess," the witch sneered. "I was tasked with finding out everything this little worm knows by any means necessary."

"Is that so?" She tilted her head back challengingly. "Then let us ask one of the others."

"Oh? Like who?" Enchantress shot back. "Superman? You think he'll protect scum like this? Or Wonder Woman? Oh, I know! I'm betting you think that tin man friend of yours will back you up. I hate to break it to ya, but no one is going to stand up for you, not on this."

That startled the Tamaranian, but she did not back down, holding her ground. She could not waver before someone she was trying to protect. Surely this woman was wrong, that the others—especially Cyborg—would condone this. Those were not actions becoming of heroes, or so she had come to believe.

"That may be so," she said hesitantly, "but until you prove your case, I will not allow any more harm to come to this man."

Enchantress narrowed her eyes. "Fine, have it your way." She then stormed towards the door, pausing long enough to look over her shoulder. "But I _will_ be back and I _will_ finish the job, with or without you in the way."

The door slammed shut behind the angered woman, which left Starfire alone with the tortured man. Turning around, she placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled comfortingly at him. "It is alright now, she is gone," she told him.

Now that she was standing over him, she could see he was a middle-aged man, his hairline receding back. He looked like he belonged in a house as someone's father rather than in this place.

"Not for long," he grunted back to her, which caused her to frown. "While I appreciate the rescue, this is only just an intermission."

"I will not allow you to be tortured further," she declared strongly, willing the man to see that his ordeal was indeed over.

The older man looked at her from behind his glasses. "I don't know what they've told you, but I don't think you know these people at all. I'm not the first person they've captured nor tortured for information and I certainly won't be the last."

That got her attention. "Do you mean torture is condoned by these people?" she questioned, leaning over him.

He nodded his head. "Yes."

That...that was horrible! How could people she had respected from afar do such a thing? Not even the Tamaranians did that and they were constantly overthrowing each other! This could not go on any longer!

"I do have to thank you," the man continued, shaking her out of her thoughts. "You've bought me some time and for that I am grateful."

"You speak as if I will abandon you," she replied, hurt in her voice. "I promise I will not leave your side."

"It would be best if perhaps you did." He paused as he swallowed. "By now, Enchantress is heading to the cells to pick someone else. If as much time has passed as I hope, she won't be able to hurt any of the others."

Now that did not make sense to her. She tried to think about it, but her mind was coming up empty. "I do not understand. Please explain."

The man sighed. "All of us in the Bat Underground are more than activists or rebels or whatever the Regime wants to call us. Our loyalty lies with the Immortal Demon and he has taught us well. I must say goodbye to you now...and thank you."

Suddenly, his face twisted with strain and before too long there was an audible crunching sound. Starfire was confused by all of this, but that changed the moment the man began to gasp and convulse right on the table. Because of the straps, he was held down, even as his body struggled against its bonds. Slowly, black lines began to emerge from beneath the collar of his shirt, spreading up his neck and lower face.

Then, as sudden as it started, it stopped, the man going still as he stared blankly up at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the door to the room swung open and Enchantress came barreling in. "Is he dead?" she demanded as she rushed up to the table, nearly slamming into it as she arrived next to it, her hands slapping down on its surface. She stared at her prisoner before she cursed. "Goddamn it! Him too!"

"What is going on?" Starfire could not help but ask. She knew rationally that this man was dead, but she did not know how or why. It was too confusing for her.

"Cyanide," the witch told her. "Every single person we capture in Neo-Gotham took a damn cyanide pill and killed themselves." Grabbing her hat, she roughly threw it onto the table, where it slapped down and stayed. "Damn it all!"

"You mean he committed suicide?" the Tamaranian exclaimed.

"Not just him, all of them. Every single goddamn one of them."

Starfire began to pale. Never had she seen such things before—intentional suicide. While suicide was normally intentional perhaps, it was a foreign concept to her until now. It was not until Enchantress spun around to face her that she was drawn out of her thoughts. "Did he say anything to you?" she demanded. "Anything at all?"

The redhead swallowed deeply, fighting against what felt like a rock in her throat. "He...he mentioned something about an Immortal Demon. Then he killed himself."

"Immortal Demon," the witch repeated to herself. "I honestly don't know what that means, but it's better than nothing."

"What do we do with him?" Starfire asked, looking to the other woman.

"Hey, you wanted him all to yourself, now he's your problem," Enchantress answered her. "I don't care what you do with him, but I suggest throwing him out with the garbage, just like the others."

"You speak with such disrespect?!" she nearly screamed back.

"I hate to break it to ya, Princess, but we're at war and war has a lot of casualties. Bury him in a hole, cremate him, I don't care. Just get him out of here."

Enchantress then grabbed her hat and snapped her fingers, a column of fire rising from her feet until it shot above her head, covering her in flames. Just as suddenly as the fire started, it ended, dissipating from the floor up and revealing the witch to be gone.

Looking back to the deceased man, Starfire began to wonder if she knew just what conflict she had joined.

* * *

It had been ages since Diana had been in the Batcave; yet, she hadn't forgotten the touch of cold air as it touched her skin, the sense of overwhelming gloom that permeated every inch of the cave, or the constant chirping of bats overhead.

Coming to land right in the middle of the cave, she caught sight of Arthur a short distance away, looking at something off in the distance. Walking towards him, she was about to speak to him when the mariner spoke.

"Why is there a dinosaur here?"

Ah, so that's what the blond man had been looking at. "Many have asked that question," she responded, humor in her voice, "but never has an answer been given."

Arthur looked to her. "I must admit, this place is fascinating. How long has it been here?"

"Decades, my friend, and every time I'm here, it reminds me that not everything that lurks in the dark is a threat."

"Poetic," he mused. "I take it I'm being relieved."

"You are. I will take up watch."

Again, she received a look from Arthur, one not unlike the ones her friends at the Hall of Justice had given her. A small part of her was growing annoyed by that. "I see," Arthur said eventually before looking away. "I must make a short trip to Atlantis. I have been gone for a while and need to check in. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Very well," Diana acquiescent. "Just remember that if you are needed, you must answer our call."

"I know the terms of our arrangement, Diana; no need to remind me."

Walking away, Arthur headed for the edge of the plateau, much to the Amazon's confusion. "Where are you going?" she called out after him.

"I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there is an underground waterway beneath this cave system. I found it while exploring this place. I came across quite a bit of equipment down there as well, including a boat. I don't know much about this Batman character, but he didn't twiddle his thumbs down here."

A Batboat? Diana had no idea. Faintly, she wondered when he had the time to build such a thing, but then she hadn't expected him to have a jet either. He really did plan for many scenarios.

Then, without further prompting, Arthur jumped off the edge of the plateau and fell from sight. Focusing on her hearing, she stood where she was until she picked up the unmistakable sound of splashing water. Aquaman had not been kidding about the presence of water at the bottom of the cave.

Of course, a moment later, her communicator had to beep in her ear.

" _Diana, it's Superman,"_ came the Kryptonian's voice, much to her surprise.

"What is it, Kal?" she asked immediately. Kal rarely, if ever, used the comm link, delegating communication to one of the others. This had to be serious.

" _I've just learned that all of the men and women we captured at the Bat Underground's headquarters have committed suicide."_

 _What?!_ The dark-haired woman felt her blood freeze in her veins. How? How could they do such a thing in their custody? They had been searched upon their capture, all weapons removed. So how did they do it?

And just how would the Insurgency use that as a weapon against them?

"Tell me what happened," she demanded.

" _From what we've been able to gather, they all took cyanide tablets. Each one was in a false tooth in their mouths, which we didn't search. One of them distracted Enchantress during their interrogation long enough for the others to kill themselves and then he did it himself."_

A scowl appeared on the Amazon's face. Cowards, all of them. How dare they escape the justice they deserved?

" _However, Starfire managed to get one of them to talk. He mentioned an Immortal Demon. Sound familiar?"_

Her scowl deepened. "Ra's al Ghul," she growled lowly. While she hadn't seen the man during the skirmish in the old Gotham Subway, she could practically see his fingerprints all over the Insurgency. It was a wonder how she had never noticed the despot's influence until now.

" _That's our thoughts too,"_ Kal agreed. " _And you can bet he has something to do with Bruce's reemergence."_

Yes, it was all becoming clear. The so-called Demon's Head had brainwashed Bruce against them. It wasn't the first time he had done it and it was definitely in line with what the man was capable of. He must have gotten a hold of Bruce at some point, put him into suspended animation, and brainwashed him with a warped version of the world the Justice League had built.

And if he was brainwashed, then he could be unbrainwashed too.

Suddenly, Diana felt better. Bruce was not rejecting them of his own free will. All she had to do was get him alone and fix what had been done to him. She could do it, she knew she could. It wouldn't be too much longer before she got her opportunity either.

"Now we know who the mastermind behind the Insurgency is," she spoke then. "All we have to do now is capture him and end this little war of his."

" _Since you're in the Batcave, perhaps you can use Bruce's computer,"_ Kal suggested to her. " _He knows the most about Ra's ah Ghul, so he must have some sort of file on him."_

That was an excellent idea and she said as much. "I'll do that. Diana out." Cutting off the line, the Amazon walked right to the computer, turning it on as soon as she could. The moment the screen came on, she saw the login window and paused.

Even after all the time she had spent with Bruce, he had never given her access. In fact, the only people she knew had access was Bruce and Zatanna, the latter of whom was dead. Damn it, the only person that stood a chance of bypassing these security protocols was Cyborg and he was neck-deep in his own project.

A choice was going to have to be made.

However, before she could make that choice, her ears picked up on a sound. It was faint, distant, but it was unmistakable to her.

Footsteps.

* * *

"Where exactly are we?" Batwoman asked, one of her hands sliding against the rocky wall next to them.

Batman didn't so much as look back as he continued on the narrow pathway. The walls of the tunnel—perhaps crevice was a better description—were quite close to each other, giving the strong sense of confinement. The vigilante was facing forward, but every so often one of the walls would rub up against his arms and shoulders.

As they had made their way to Wayne Manor, they had come across a cave opening that was covered with overgrowth. It was here the dark-clad man led them and where their stumbling through the dark tunnel began. If it weren't for the night-vision their cowls gave them, this would've been much harder than it was.

He did, however, answer her. "We're underneath the Cave. My sensors last indicated it as a quarter mile below the Manor."

He heard the woman stop behind him. "We're that deep?" she demanded before she picked up her pace to catch up. "And why are we getting that close to the Cave? Won't the Regime have someone watching this place now that they know you're around?"

"I have no doubt about it," he replied to her. "In fact, that's what I was counting on."

There was a moment of silence before, "You put something down here, didn't you."

The corner of his mouth ticked up. "It shouldn't be too much further now." In fact, they should be reaching it right about…

Suddenly, the tunnel widened out. A good estimate would've put three men shoulder to shoulder with a little room for comfort. More importantly, off to their right was a large, steel door embedded in the wall.

"How long has this been down here?" Batwoman asked the moment they stopped in front of it, the two looking at the door.

"Roughly around the time you put on the mask," he grunted in return.

" _Why_ didn't you ever tell me about this?"

"You were still learning the ins and outs of crime fighting. You didn't need to be overburdened with this."

The woman turned her head to look at him incredulously. "Considering everything that's happen, I'm pretty sure we could've used...whatever you have back here."

"Even if you knew about it, there's no way you would've been able to open it. The only person that knows how to get inside is me. I could've shown you, but you were more interested in beating people up to have paid attention."

Batwoman looked back to the door. By now she would be noticing the lack of a lock, or even any manner to actually open it. It was as if the cave itself had formed it despite the use of man-made materials. "So how do you open it?" she asked after awhile.

Batman moved to one side of the door, raising both hands to press up on a piece of rock that bulged out from the wall. Gritting his teeth, he pushed as hard as he could, slowly pushing the rock in until there was an audible click. Suddenly, the door slid backwards, but not fully opening, a green glow emerging through the crack between it and the door frame.

"That wasn't so hard," Batwoman said as she eyed the vigilante with annoyance.

"It is considering there's a pressure plate behind that rock," he retorted as he stepped in front of the slightly-opened door. "Any harder than that and the door seals itself from the inside—that's to make sure no super strength metas got in. Any less and the rock would never reach the panel and the door wouldn't open."

"So why not have an electronic lock? Or even a safe vault?"

"I wanted this off the grid as much as possible. Even with my ghost network, if someone knows where to look, they'll find it. This is as isolated a place as you will find. Considering what I've placed here, I wanted to make sure that no one would be able to find it by accident or otherwise."

Before the redhead could ask just what was inside, Batman pushed open the door and walked inside. The source of the green glow became apparent at the sight of plexiglass cases on both sides of the room containing all manners of kryptonite. Some were simply rocks while others had been carved into various forms, such as statues, knives, and jewels. All of this the vigilante ignored as he headed towards the back of the room.

Batwoman, on the other hand, seemed stunned at the sight. "Where did you get all of this?" she asked breathlessly, eyes slowly moving from case to case.

"I collected it over the years," he answered her, pausing long enough to glance at a piece of kryptonite carved into the shape of a Chinese dragon. "Some were simply people thinking they had found a source of jade and wanted to make art of it. A large amount came from raiding Lex Luthor's stockpiles in Metropolis following Superman's Jokerization."

Reaching the back of the room, there were a few work benches lining the back wall and a portion of the side walls, ending right where the plexiglass cases began. Hanging on the wall to the left were multiple utility belts, fully stocked and ready for use. Immediately, he pulled a couple down, placing them on the table in front of him. Kneeling down, underneath the table were several metal cases, two of which he pulled out and also placed on the table. "Start packing," he ordered as he turned around to look at his former protege.

He found her standing with one hand on one of the glass windows, seeming to admire a kryptonite short sword. Whatever reverie she was it, she was shaken out of it as she jerked her head to look at him upon hearing his words. "Huh?" she responded before noticing the belts and cases. "Oh, okay."

Batman narrowed his eyes at her, but moved on. There were more important things to worry about, mainly the long, cylindric case that was featured prominently on the back wall. Opening it, the sight of a set of armor was revealed, the symbol of the Bat proudly displayed on the chest.

It was this set of armor that he had come for. Pulling out pieces of it, he transferred it all to one of the empty cases, shutting it once the transfer was complete. "So is that it?" Batwoman asked once they were finished.

"It is. Time to get out," he answered her.

"You know, I was just thinking. You said that switch was sensitive to pressure. What's to stop someone with super strength from bashing the door in?," she inquired.

"It's been reinforced with the same metallic compounds in the armory and armor depository in the Cave," he answered her. "Considering Wonder Woman couldn't break through the rooms up there, it stands to reason someone of her strength couldn't get in here either."

"Oh."

Suddenly, a beeping sound went off in the dark-clad man's ear, causing him to stiffen. The only reason he would be hearing that sound was because someone had tripped one of the sensors on the pathway down here. There was two ways to get here, one being the way he and Batwoman had used. The other was from the Cave and someone was clearly exploring it.

"Someone's coming," he immediately told Batwoman, causing her to stiffen as well.

"It has to be the Regime," she hissed back to him. "If they see this, we're finished."

"They won't." Batman was making his way to the doorway. "I'm going to find whoever it is and lead them back to the Cave. You take the cases and get out of here. We'll rendezvous at a safe house I have in a suburb of Metropolis."

"What? No!" she nearly shouted at him. "You're too important to get caught up in a skirmish here. We both need to leave this place."

"We can't risk the Regime finding out about this place either," Batman countered. "If this doesn't work, we need a backup plan. If the Regime knows about this, they'll confiscate everything and leave the Insurgency with even less resources than it has. We need to keep this as a contingency plan."

"But why you? I should be the one to do it!"

The dark-clad man gave her a stern look. "I know this cave system better than anyone. If there's anyone that can maneuver around here, it'll be me."

Batwoman stared at him before reluctantly nodding her agreement. "What place are we meeting at?"

"It's an apartment complex owned by Wayne Enterprises. I'm sure you can figure out which one."

Without looking back, Batman left the room. Locating the other path that led here, he walked down it, moving at a quick pace. There was a certain point he wanted to get to before whoever else was down here found him.

Minutes drug by until he found his place. Though the path was wider here, above his head was a tunnel that rose a significant distance up. It was here he would make his stand.

As it turned out, that moment came pretty quickly. Further down the tunnel he heard a sound, one that was reminiscent of rock clattering against rock. In an instant, the vigilante sent a bat-shuriken flying down the crevice. The projectile disappeared into the darkness until it clashed against something metal. He could tell from the sound of the shuriken striking against it as well as the brief flash of a spark.

His eyes widened. Immediately, Batman had his grapple out and fired it into the crevice above his head, waiting impatiently for the tell-tale sound of the claw attaching itself to the ceiling. The moment it did, he ascended up into the air, flying up the narrow opening. He had no doubt he was being persuaded, which was what he wanted to happen. He just wasn't expecting who it was.

As he reached the top, he disengaged his grapple, his momentum helping to carrying the remaining distant up. The moment his foot touched down on the edge of the new path, he was rushing down it, slowly ducking down as the ceiling lowered. Eventually, he lost speed as he was forced to crawl on his hands and knees. That was okay because this small tunnel would be opening up soon.

It took longer than he wanted, but eventually he reached the end of the tunnel, which opened up into the Cave. He was currently standing on a ledge that was separated by a gap. On the other side was a small plateau with a small set of stairs that led upwards. The stairs were actually a natural rock formation made from a time long before he had begun using it. He hadn't gotten around to using this area due to its lack of space, but he was familiar with it.

Instead of using the stairs, he pulled out his grapple and fired it up towards the ceiling. The moment the line went taut, he hit the retraction button and flew upwards. It took a little bit, but soon he reached the main plateau of the cavern. He rose further up into the air so that he got a better sight of the supercomputer and the medbay. They looked small from up here, but that was due to the angle he was at. Stopping his ascent, he hung there for a moment before he began to swing his legs back and forth, which in turn moved him forward and backward. When he felt he had reached the apex of his forward swing, he disengaged his grapple claw's hold on its anchor point, his momentum sending him soaring through the air.

He had more than enough speed to land on the plateau, crouching down the moment he landed so his legs better absorbed the shock. Standing up to his full height, he began walking towards the main area of his cave setup.

That was when the ground up ahead exploded, sending a couple large chunks of granite and stone flying through the air. None of the debris landed near the vigilante, so he didn't bother taking defensive measures. This allowed him to see Diana's form through the dust cloud, coming to land between him and the hole she had created.

"Stop," she commanded as she trained her blue eyes onto him. "I just want to talk."

Batman remained silent, allowing the Amazon to have the first words. The longer he kept her here, the further away Batwoman could get.

"It's occurred to me that you've been told many things," she began, "some of which may be unfavorable to myself and our friends."

She paused, waiting for a response he didn't give. Seeing this, the dark-haired woman continued, "I feel you should at least hear our side, so that you know the full story and not just part of it."

He raised an eyebrow at that. Out of everything he had been expecting, a defense of her own actions was predictable, but not expected. After all, Diana was a stubborn woman; if she felt she was in the right, she would not be swayed through words nor feel she needed to explain herself. "And what would that be?" he challenged her. "How you oppress this world? It's people?"

Predictably, Diana tilted her head back in defiance. "That is not what we are doing. You know better than anyone that in order to have peace, we must enforce the law."

"A law that requires a curfew? One that has an armed force using Gestapo tactics to enforce it? Where civilians live in fear that they'll be assaulted if they break it? How is that 'peace'?"

"There is only violence when the offenders are resisting," Diana retorted. "You've seen your fair share of this when you patrolled."

"I normally dealt with people that carried guns and knives. I've seen the 'resistance' you claim these offenders have. It usually involves begging and pleading."

That caused the Amazon to frown. "Are you certain of this? I have not heard of such complaints."

"I'd be shocked if you had," he retorted snidely. "After all, you rarely leave Superman's side from what I hear."

That caused her to narrow her eyes. "Do not judge me, Bruce. Don't you dare judge me after everything that's happened."

"And what has happened?"

"Your death for one," she shot back heatedly. "Or at least your hundredth fake death. I don't think you realize just how much that affected everyone. And then Flash was murdered by the same man we thought killed you." She was visibly upset by now. "We were all hurting. Vandal Savage nearly destroyed us with what he did. We couldn't...I couldn't let such transgressions slide. If we had, there was no telling how many more of us would be attacked that same way."

"And that led to your police state?"

It seemed his constant jabs had gotten under the Amazon's skin as she scowled at him. "You are not one to cast stones, Bruce. How is anything unlike what you've done?"

That caught him off guard. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Think about it. You patrolled the streets at night, enforcing an unofficial curfew and anyone you saw violating the law, you beat them down. How is this any different from what we have done?"

It was his turn to scowl. "I didn't terrify innocent people. I only went after lawbreakers."

"And anyone violating the curfew is a lawbreaker."

Batman's fists clenched tightly. "Are you saying that you did all of this because of how I looked after Gotham?"

"I'm saying we did all of this _for_ you."

Those very words made the blood in his veins go cold. A moment later that numbness was overtaken by fury. "You can't be serious," he growled.

"Yes, Bruce." Diana took a couple steps towards him. "It is how we honor your memory, you. I couldn't protect you back then, so I made sure that no one would lose a loved one like that again, much like you watched over Gotham so that no one lost their parents to a senseless crime."

If Batman was angry before, he was furious now. It was a slap to the face how his very life's mission was twisted before his eyes. Perhaps this could be a logical conclusion if he were honest with himself, but he would never go to the same lengths that the Justice League had. He didn't kill, plain and simple, and they had. All that caused was pain, resentment, and hate. In fact, he saw all of those in Cassandra.

 _Cassandra…_

"Tell me something, Diana," he said through clenched teeth. "The way you...honor...me, does that include lobotomizing Batgirl?"

The dark-haired woman stiffened. It took her a moment before she slowly replied, "The lobotomizing was perhaps extreme, but it did reduce the number of criminals out on the streets. It's regretful that she was caught up in that, but it was done with good intentions."

Good intentions? _Good intentions?!_ "You took her mind away for _good intentions?_ " he repeated back to her, not even bothering disguising his outrage. "No matter how you try to spin it, you _knew_ what she meant to me. How can you stand there and tell me it's regretful when you could've stopped it? Tell me, damn it!"

Diana's eyes were wide in awe. However, they narrowed soon after. "No, I didn't know. You never told me what your relationship was like with her. You only ever hinted at her."

"How many people do I willingly allow on the streets?" he countered. "How many actually wear my symbol? Don't tell me that doesn't mean something to you."

"It does," she admitted after a moment, but he could tell his words hadn't fully reached her. It was as if she were blinding herself to his meaning purposefully. "Yet, does this not strike you as strange? How do you know about your apprentice, yet know so little of your friends? You were only told one side of the story and it was so convincing that you haven't bothered finding out the rest of it. That isn't the you I know."

What the hell was she talking about? "What are you getting at?"

"That someone is playing you, even gone as far to brainwash you. It wouldn't be the first time it has happened to you."

"And who the hell would brainwash me?" he demanded heatedly.

Diana straightened out her posture. "Ra's al Ghul."

When he didn't respond, she pressed on. "He's done it to you before. This whole situation feels like one of his schemes and he's using you to hurt us again. You must see this."

"What I see," he growled back, "is someone that's blinded herself to her own atrocities."

Diana's face hardened. "If you are unwilling to see the truth, then I will make you see it." Before he could even move, the Amazon's arm lashed out like a bullwhip. Her lasso was in her grasp, flinging itself through the air where it wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides beneath the golden coils. Taking another step forward so that she could take hold of the lasso with her other hand as well, Diana stared him down with steely blue eyes. "This may hurt you," she warned him, "and I am sorry for the pain it may cause. I hope you will be able to forgive me."

Panic filled Batman's insides. His body squirmed against the golden rope to no avail. While he was very well aware of the Lasso's ability to seek out the truth, he also knew it had the ability to cast spells. Diana had done simple things with it, like putting people to sleep. With the way she was now, she could make him see her own truth and accept it as much.

He needed to avoid that fate at all costs.

Suddenly, the roaring of an engine rang out, causing both of them to jerk their heads to a side. Practically right on top of Diana was his sleek, black car, which rammed right into her. The Amazon took the grill right into her chest and was launched off her feet, being carried by the car for several feet. The car landed hard on the floor, the brakes causing burnt rubber to fill the air as they squealed from the friction. The force in which it had hit Diana caused her to go skipping across the floor, going into a roll until she came to a stop.

The golden rope around Batman slackened, which he immediately pushed his arms out, loosening its hold on him further. The moment he dropped his arms, the lasso fell to the floor in loose coils at his feet.

Reaching to his belt, he pulled out a small, round ball. With a toss of his arm and a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying through the air until it fell to the floor, bouncing several times on the ground until it went into a roll. It ultimately stopped close to Diana, the Amazon looking up at it through wincing eyes.

Stream of green gas fired out of the ball, spreading out all over the area the dark-haired woman laid, covering her in the gas. Diana coughed loudly until they slowly went silent. The gas cloud took about a minute to dissipate, but when it did the Amazon was lying unconscious on the floor.

By then, the car's canopy slid open, Batwoman poking her head up as she looked at him. "What are you waiting for?" she demanded. "Get in!"

Batman started to move when he glanced down at the lasso. Bending down, he snatched it off the floor, hurrying over to the car as he coiled it up. He had it in its familiar loops by the time he reached the car; however, that's where he stopped. They had a problem that needed to be dealt with.

Batwoman stared at him from her seat. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

He stared down at the woman. "I'm driving."

She looked at him incredulously. "You can't be serious. We need to get out of here and you're holding us up because you want to drive?"

He leaned down towards her. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Well, no…"

"Then move over."

* * *

For the record, the insurgent that Enchantress is torturing is Warren McGinnis. I was trying to figure out how to get his name in that scene, but there wasn't a place I could work it in without making it too jarring. So while he's nameless to Starfire, he is known to us.

To Guest: I hope it was everything you wanted to see lol


	29. True Colors

The room was dingy, tainted with the faint musk of stale air. It was rarely used mostly because most people didn't know it even existed. That was probably why it had become a safe little hideaway, far from the ever watchful eyes of the Regime.

Currently, there were five men seated around a table that was older than all of them combined. If you weren't careful, you could end up with a handful of splinters just by leaning against it. The chairs at least, were younger then all of them, and comfy too.

"It's good to see everyone made it," Leonard Snart began, starting their rather informal meeting. "I know the USPS is slow, so I was expecting some of you not to get these notices for a month."

"Mind tellin' us why you wanted to meet, Cold?" Mick Rory grumbled. His white bodysuit stood out brightly in the dull looking room. Thankfully, he had his flamethrower resting on the table rather than in hand. Heat Wave had the patience of a matchstick. He ignited easily and burned until he was all out of fuel.

"You can second that, Mate," Digger agreed, his hands fiddling with a boomerang. "I thought this bloomin' place was fer emergencies only."

"Well, this time we got us an opportunity," Snart snapped at the two. "In case you bums haven't been watching, the Regime is weak. Haven't you noticed the distinct _lack_ of storm troopers around? Those freaky aliens decimated them all."

A man in green and yellow stripes snorted. Went by the name the Top and his stripy uniform indicated just what he did. "Uhh, so what? That still leaves Superman and his cronies still large and solidly in charge."

"Just without his personal army of stogies," Heat Wave responded, straightening himself out in his chair with obvious interest. One of them was finally getting it. "Do you know who's left?"

Snart shook his head. "The Regime is keeping that hush-hush. About the only confirmation I got is Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Cyborg. All three of them were spotted in Texas of all places. Apparently they were looking for that Batman-imposter."

"So you think this is the time to take a whack at 'em?" Captain Boomerang asked, still slouching in his seat. "Remind me why this would be a good idea?"

"We always said that if we had a chance, we'd take a shot at taking these Regime guys out," Hartley Rathaway, the Pied Piper, reminded him, his face just barely visible from beneath his green hood. He then looked to Snart. "Are you sure this is the right time?"

"Of course it is," he scoffed. "Unlike you chumps, I keep my ear to the ground and the Bat Underground is up to something. They've been recruiting new blood and are about to launch something. My thinkin' is, if we time ourselves just right, we can hit the Regime on their blindside while they're focused on the B.U. We help take the Regime down, and we can all practically write our own tickets with whatever government follows."

"You can count me in," Heat Wave agreed eagerly. "I'm tired of cooling my heels. It's about time to remind these Regime punks that the Rogues are still alive and pissed off."

"I can get behind that," the Top said as he leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on the table.

"I'm a man of my word," Pied Piper joined in. "I said I'd help if we had a shot. I'm trusting you on this, Cold; if this is our chance, you better be right."

All eyes went to Digger, who started looking from Snart, to Mick, to Top, to Rathaway. "Oy, you guys are buggering up the wrong tree," he responded. "I've been keeping me head down this long and it's kept me alive. Why the hell should I stick my neck out now?"

"Because the Regime ain't gonna stop looking for all of us as long as we're all alive," Snart told him. "You think they just stopped? Of course they haven't. They got Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, even my sister, Golden Glider. The only reason why we're still around is because we knew how to hide from the Flash. That guy could search Central City in seconds if he wanted to—and probably did—and never found us."

Digger snorted. "Mate, all he had ta do was go to the World's End. It wasn't like we were tryin' all that hard. The reason why those blokes got bagged was because they were helpin' the Insurgency. I'm all for fightin', but I ain't gonna fight a loser."

"What about fighting the Flash?" Pied Piper pointed out. "How many times did he bust all of us? Yet, we kept doing the same thing over and over."

"That was different," the Aussie defended.

"How so?"

"Because Flash wouldn't knock us off if we robbed a jewelry story. He wouldn't lobotomize us for knockin' off the 1st National Bank."

Well, there was truth in that. Snart was surprised to admit he missed the old speedster. Now that guy was a hero, unlike these mooks running the world now. He knew not to cross the line and in turn so did they.

Damn that Vandal Savage.

"Tell me this, Digger," Cold said then. "If Flash were still here, do you think he'd be running around with the Regime? Or would he be fighting against it?"

Boomerang was quiet as he considered that. He sighed after awhile. "Bloody hell, you bastard. Alright, I'll help. You just better be right about this, Cold," he warned.

"Trust me, Digger," he replied with a smirk. "Now is the time for the Central City Rogues to rise again."

* * *

Traffic was sparse this time of day. There were a few cars going in either direction of the highway, but for the most part it was empty.

Which was rather good for them—them meaning Ollie. He did have a famous face, even with the green ballcap on his head. He would've had sunglasses on, but that would've just made him a Unabomber wannabe, and subsequently even more suspicious. No, this leisurely drive was their cover, so long as his lead foot didn't get the better of him.

In the passenger seat, Mr. Terrific was hard at work, typing on a laptop. He had washed off that blue T on his face, so he looked normal. From where he sat, Ollie couldn't quite see what Terrific was working on, but it looked important.

"What'cha doing over there?" he asked, one hand at the top of the steering wheel, the other on the center console.

"I guess you could call it prep," the guy answered, not once looking away from the computer screen. "If what that Fate guy told us was true, we're going to need it."

Ollie couldn't help but grimace. After being whisked away from the Old Gotham Subway Terminal, he had been stuck with Mr. Terrific here and given the mission to get to Motor City. From what Fate said, there was some sort of weapon being developed there they needed to stop, otherwise they would all be in some very big trouble. Now, while the blond man was not above messing with the Regime's plans, this didn't feel like the big end-all, be-all, knock-out, drag-out fight Batman had been promising. It just felt like another raid the Insurgency did.

He was not in the mood for dragging this out any further.

"So what are you working on, exactly?" he ventured again, this time glancing to his passenger. "You haven't really talked much since you started."

"It's something Batman and I have been working on," he answered, this time actually looking away from the computer screen to address him. "He and I have been outlining some potential strategies against the Regime and we both felt this one needed some fine-tuning."

At this, he turned the computer to the driver, revealing some sort of chemical diagram with all sorts of letters and numbers Ollie looked back to the road, then to the computer, and back. "I'm not sure what I'm looking at," he said after awhile.

"It's a chemical compound," he explained as he turned the laptop back to face him. "Apparently it's one that Batman made a long time ago. We've both theorized that if we can alter a few of the bonds and elements, we can make this compound actually induce phobias. There were even some notes from a Dr. Crane that's been helping us."

"So what, we're going to make them fear us? Is that the plan?" the blond asked skeptically.

"That's one way to put it," Terrific shrugged as he began typing again. "Though honestly I'm not expecting to use this one. It's geared more for Aquaman and I doubt the guy is going to be in the heartland of America. If we were heading to Metropolis, that would be one thing, but not Motor City."

Which made Ollie wonder why bother putting so much time and energy into a countermeasure they weren't even expecting to use? Effort could be placed in more helpful areas. In fact, he even said as much. "If we're not going to be fighting Aquaman, why bother? I'm sure you could be working on something that may actually help us."

"You forget, there are Regime members that we didn't even have ideas for, much less actual countermeasures," Terrific replied. "Cyborg, Enchantress, and Aquaman are just a few of them. You do remember that one girl with the fiery hair, right? Never saw her before and she blasted Batwoman out of the fight without much effort. If you want to go into a fight blind like that again, then I hope you have your cemetery plot ready. I doubt our upcoming fight with the Regime will be settled in one afternoon. I'm expecting a long, drawn out siege where we take them out one at a time. We'll need this eventually. Besides, I can work on multiple measures at once; this one I just happened to be on at the moment."

"Don't be too optimistic," Ollie retorted sarcastically. "If the Regime kills me, they'll string my body from the Statue of Liberty. I doubt I'll even get a proper burial."

That made his passenger pause. "Yeah, I guess that would go for both of us," he mused after awhile, leaning back into his seat.

"Sucks being a wanted man, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah, it does."

"So that computer of yours, there's no way Cyborg can track it right?"

"No way. In order for him to access any computer system, it has to be connected via the internet. I've cut off all signals to this laptop, so there's nothing for him to follow."

"That's good." Ollie returned his attention to the windshield. Up ahead, he saw a sign that said MOTOR CITY 12 MI on it. Funny, the place where Dr Fate had landed the two Insurgents just so happened to be a three day drive. Conniving bastard. "Well, whatever else you're working on, you better hurry it up. We're almost there."

* * *

Gears were turning, conveyor belts moving, presses rising and falling. It was all going off like clockwork.

And it was all occurring in a different room.

Cyborg stood in front of the massive computer terminal, watching the readouts as they were presented. Lights would flash off and on, all indicating that the various stages of the process were beginning and completing. The cyborg typed on the computer, inputting more commands in time to move onto the next stage. Things were almost done here, all he needed was maybe another hour or two and everything would be complete.

It was quiet here. It never used to be quiet, not when his dad ran the place. He could recall this place being filled with scientists and researchers hustling and bustling around. Now it was his own personal factory.

The way things changed.

He was reluctant to think of it as a replacement for the Watchtower. There had been something grand and wondrous about the satellite. Up there, it was as if he were all alone, which he had been coming to enjoy more and more. There was also the view of Earth that never got old.

Suddenly, a red light flashed on, catching his attention. Looking to it, Cyborg frowned. That was an alarm, but not one for the facility. It was from a communique from emergency responders. Accessing the communication line through his internal connection, a readout appeared in front of his cybernetic eye.

"They just never learn," he growled before he accessed his comm link. "This is Cyborg, I just got an alert in Neo-Central City. Looks like a few baddies thought this was a good time to get in trouble. Any takers?"

There was silence for awhile before he got response, predictably from John Stewart. " _Hawkgirl and I will check it out. We'll take Starfire with us too."_

A smirk appeared on Cyborg's face. Taking Star with them on a mission? Nice job for a Tamaranian. He knew she'd fit in with them.

"Roger that," he responded. "Happy hunting."

* * *

They had been told there was chaos in the streets of Neo-Central City. Mayhem reigned without hindrance, innocents fled in terror. Yet, from up in the air, there didn't seem to be much mayhem.

There were a couple of clouds of black smoke rising up into the air towards the east side of the city, but that was it. Starfire with her two comrades had been promised villainy, yet, this looked like something the fire brigade could handle.

"Everyone stay sharp," the Green Lantern warned them as they began to descend towards the smoke. "There's no telling what's down there."

That was an excellent point too and Starfire was glad the older man had said so. She would be on her guard so that she would not be surprised.

Eventually, they landed on an empty street, where a fire was consuming a newspaper stand. Further up the street was another fire, but of what was unclear from this distance. Hawkgirl the Thanagarian placed her hands on her hips as she looked at the scene. "I thought Cyborg said there was trouble here," she said irritably.

Suddenly, a wave of fire slammed into Starfire, causing her to cry out as she was sent flying to her left and into the face of a building. The flames did not burn her so much as startled her, but it truly was a surprise attack.

As the fire died down, the Tamaranian followed the remaining flames to its source, finding a man in a white suit standing on the sidewalk. In his hand was a gun that was clearly a modified Earth flamethrower. "Oh, you can definitely say there's trouble here," he announced loudly.

"Heat Wave," John Stewart growled as a green aura appeared around his body. "You chose a bad time to come out of retirement."

This "Heat Wave" snorted derisively. "I thought retirement was enjoying those golden years. What I've experienced was manhunts and foxholes. Maybe you marine types think that's a good time to relax to, I've gotta tell ya: it's hell."

He then aimed his flamethrower right at Mr. Stewart and Hawkgirl and fired another stream of flames. This time, the fire missed them as the two Leaguers leapt into the air, taking flight. In fact, Mr. Stewart aimed his ring right at Heat Wave and fired a green beam at him.

As the energy blast closed in on its target, a small, spinning object flew out of nowhere, coming in between Mr. Stewart's attack and Heatwave. The moment the beam touched the object, it exploded, unleashing a ball of flames that stopped the blast from traveling further.

Surprise appeared on the Green Lantern and Thanagarian's faces. By the time they turned to look where it had come from, the air seemed to distort, a column of this strange ripple moving through the air and passing over the two heroes. Even from where she stood, Starfire could hear an ear-piercing sound that made her wince, covering her ears with her hands. The same was happening to Mr. Stewart and Hawkgirl, their bodies contorting as their backs arched and their hands clutched at their heads.

Then, the sound ended along with the distorted air. A moment later two more spinning objects flew through the air, ones that Starfire recognized as boomerangs. Each one collided with the heroes' unguarded faces, causing their heads to snap to aside.

Finally, a blast of blue light hit them in their backs, knocking them out of the air and sending them falling to the ground. Even from where she stood, the Tamaranian could see the ice crystals forming on their backs.

Somehow, Starfire had been spared this onslaught, though she suspected it was because she had been forgotten. However, she had learned a long time ago that it was best to stay low so that she could see the mastermind behind this attack and that is what she should do.

Her patience was rewarded as she saw more men emerge. One was in a parka with his own gun in hand, resting it across the top of his shoulders as he approached Mr. Stewart and Ms. Shayera. There was another man with a green hood and cape, his own weapon in hand dangling at his side. Another in a blue uniform and boomerangs also appeared, along with another man in green and yellow stripes. All of them were focused on the two Justice League members, joined by Heat Wave as all five of them surrounded them.

"Well, well, this couldn't have gone any better," the man in the parka remarked as he came to a stop, moving his gun in front of him. "I was honestly expecting this to be a lot harder."

"No time to gloat," the man in the hood said as he aimed his gun at the Tamaranian's friends. "We need to finish them off quickly."

"Got that right," Heat Wave agreed, also taking aim with his weapon.

And Starfire had seen enough. Powering up her starbolts, she drew her glowing hands up by her head before throwing them forward, launching her energy blasts at the men. Because of where she stood, the men in the parka and green hood saw the attack and cried out. The rest of the men jerked their heads around and then dove out of the way of the starbolts, causing them to fly by harmlessly until they hit a nearby building, detonating in loud explosions.

"I thought you took that chick out, Heat Wave!" the man in the parka shouted in anger.

"Shut it, Cold!" Heat Wave shot back from his crouched stance on the street. "I didn't see you taking her out either!"

Standing at her full height, Starfire moved onto the street so that she could face these foes. Placing her hands on her hips, she then demanded, "Halt your misguided activities, fiends! Otherwise the full might of a Tamaranian Princess you will face!"

"Lady, I think you're the one missin' the point, here," the man with the boomerangs replied as he moved to stand across from her. "You blokes finish off those two; I'll handle the ankle biter."

That was when Mr. Stewart went into action, forming a green bubble around himself and Ms. Shayera. That would protect them while they caught their breaths. This did not stop the others from firing their weapons on the shield in an attempt to break it. In the meantime, the man before her said, "Name's Captain Boomerang, lil' miss. You got yourself right mixed up with the wrong posse."

"I have done no such thing," she declared proudly. "Heed my words and stop this. No further harm will come to you should you surrender."

Captain Boomerang stared at her. "I think ya got a few missing loose screws, missy. I'd apologize, but I'd rather do it while you're out cold."

Then in a flurry of movement, he began throwing boomerang after boomerang at her. Starfire counted four in total, three of which were spinning right towards her. The fourth one was of no concern as it was thrown way off target. Charging up her starbolts, Starfire began yelling out war cries as she began firing her green blasts at the approaching projectiles. Each boomerang was met with a starbolt, blowing them up nicely.

That was when something collided with the back of Starfire's head, causing her to cry out as she stumbled forward. Her head tilted down for only a moment, but by the time she was looking back up, there was a boomerang nailing her in the face, sending her stumbling backwards this time.

"And one more for Sheila!" Captain Boomerang cried out as he threw another of his oddly-shaped weapons. This time, Starfire was ready for it as she regained her balance in time to face down the boomerang.

At least, she thought she was ready. Just before she reacted to it, the boomerang exploded right before her face, the blast sending her flying backwards and down the street. She landed on the pavement shortly after, skidding across it on her back until she came to a stop.

"Have you blokes finished yet?" the captain demanded as he turned to look at his friends. Clearly he thought he had finished her off with that surprise attack. Starfire was more than willing to show him how wrong he was.

Except, it seemed Mr. Stewart had grown tired of their stalemate. His green bubble glowed brilliantly before it blasted outwards in all directions, sending the five men flying in different directions. Seeing Captain Boomerang flying back first towards her, the Tamaranian scrambled onto her feet as quickly as she could, moving a step to a side as she stuck her arm out at shoulder height. Captain Boomerang's back rammed into her arm, stopping his upper body as his legs continued to move. This sent him flipping, going underneath the redhead's outstretched arm until he crashed onto the street.

"Haaaaaaa!"

Looking back, Starfire saw Hawkgirl go flying through the air, tackling the man in the green hood and flying them straight into the window of a store, shattering the glass as the two disappeared within it. Further down the street, the Cold man was kneeling on the asphalt, firing another icy blast at the back of Mr. Stewart. In response, the Green Lantern formed a shield with his ring, holding the blue beam at bay easily.

"Top!" Cold shouted. "Go get that winged bitch off of Pied Piper!"

"On it!" the man in yellow and green returned, right before he began spinning his body around. Soon, he was just a blur of green, a small tornado that went spinning right for the store.

Oh, so that's why he was called Top. He spun like a child's top. How fascinating.

Her realization was sidetracked then as she saw Heat Wave getting back onto his feet, facing Mr. Stewart's back. Realizing what was about to happen, Starfire quickly fired a starbolt, one that hit the ground in front of the white-clad man and causing him to jerk backwards.

"I would not think of attacking a man's back if I were you," she warned him.

"Lady, quit it," he responded as he turned his flamethrower on her, unleashing his powerful flames. This time Starfire was ready for it as she fired a green blast at the approaching fire. Her energy and Heat Wave's flames collided with each other, coming to a standstill between them, at least, that is what happened in the initial collision. A moment later and the flames gave way to her starbolt, causing Heat Wave's eyes to widen before he dove to a side, dodging her blast. With a smirk on her face, Starfire rose up into the air and launched herself towards her opponent.

By then, Mr. Stewart had fended off Cold's ice attack. Pushing his green shield forward, the construct rushed towards Cold, who realized at the last moment what was happening and dove to a side. Ending his construct, Mr. Stewart turned his head to see Heat Wave rolling onto his feet close by.

Then he deliberately aimed his power ring at the man's back and fired a thin green beam, one that tore into Heat Wave's back and exited out of his chest.

Starfire froze in mid-flight, eyes widened in astonishment. What...what was...why? Why did Mr. Stewart do that?! He did not even seem disturbed as Heat Wave slowly leaned forward and collapsed to the ground.

"Mick!" Cold shouted before looking angrily at Green Lantern. "You're gonna pay for that, bastard!"

"Not like you will, Snart," Mr. Stewart replied back coolly.

That was when Top and Pied Piper came flying through the broken store window, landing in a heap on the street. Both men let out groans as they laid there. Shortly after, Hawkgirl emerged, dusting her hands as she made the short drop to the sidewalk, landing on her feet. "I see you got Heat Wave out of the way," she remarked casually. "That's one down."

No. No, no, no! She had to be mishearing this! How could heroes so callously kill people? Did they not understand how morally wrong that was? She had always been told that good Earthlings viewed killing as something that must not be done. Two people that had been glorified in that principle were standing before her and neither seemed bothered by this violation.

"I'm surprised you left those two breathing," Green Lantern replied as he looked to the Thanagarian. "Getting soft on me?"

Hawkgirl's wings spread out to their full wingspan as she stretched. "Nah, I was just warming up. Watch and I'll put these two clowns out for good." Holding up her mace, she approached the two fallen men, both of whom were starting to push themselves up. Coming to stand next to the Top man, the Thanagarian raised her weapon above her head before swinging it down.

The world froze for Starfire as she saw the mace hit the Top on the back of his head, his skull giving away as it was crushed beneath the force of the blow. Blood exploded in all directions as the man's body immediately crumpled back to the ground. The stoic look Ms. Shayera gave the man did not waver in remorse.

What was going on here.

"That's one down," the winged woman commented before she pulled sharply back on her mace, a sickening plopping sound being made as the weapon was pulled out of the dead man's skull, blood dripping off of it. She then turned her attention to the man in the green hood. "One more to go."

"No!" Starfire shouted, earning her everyone's attention. "How can you allow this? These are people you are killing!"

Green Lantern and Ms. Shayera stared at her glumly. "Cyborg did say she was naive," the redhead said after awhile.

"Lady," Cold grunted to her as he slowly edged himself towards his comrades, never taking his eyes off of the two Leaguers. "You're hanging with the wrong people. These two alone have killed more people than the five of us combined. They're the bad guys here, not us."

"No, you're the bad guys," Green Lantern retorted. "You're the ones that robbed, hurt, and killed people in the beginning. You just don't like the fact we've turned the tables on you."

"But does that not make you like them?" Starfire countered. "I was told that killing was wrong and that Earthlings believed this as much as Tamaranians. Was this wrong?"

That caused the two Leaguers to pause. "That's not wrong," the dark-skinned man answered slowly. "But every so often, a life needs to be taken to save others. It's something we've learned the hard way."

"Now that's just a load of crap," Cold snapped. "You've been using that to justify everyone you've killed. That might work for the Gotham trash, but what about us Rogues? I personally ain't ever killed an innocent person. If you got into a fight with me, then so be it, but I never hurt a person that didn't ask for it. You can say that about anyone here."

"Oh, like we'll believe that," Ms. Shayera responded back. "You've held hostages before and you would've offed them if it came down to you or them."

"Careful, you're talking about yourself there, sweetheart."

"Stop this, all of you!" Starfire cried as she clutched at her head with her hands, her hair getting tangled with her fingers. What was even happening here? "We must stop fighting! We must make sense of all this!"

"As much as I would love to do that," Cold replied to her, "I don't really have a choice here. None of us do. We can't leave because your buddies here are going to kill us like dogs. So we have to fight."

"You're the ones that started the fight," Green Lantern shot back. "And we're going to make sure it ends."

And then the older man turned towards Cold, holding his glowing ring up, ready to fire. Images of what had happened to Heat Wave flooded the Tamaranian's mind, fear overtaking her. It was not fear for her own safety; no, it was for the men around her, who prepared themselves for the worst. She could not let the same thing happen, not again! She would not let it happen!

"I said _stop!_ " she shouted as she thrust her hand up, a starbolt firing from her palm. She watched it burn through the air, Green Lantern turning his head as a look of surprise covered his face. The blast hit him head on, the explosion throwing him through the air.

"John!" Hawkgirl shouted in concern as she watched the mango flying away. She then swung her head, fury written on her face. "You!"

The Thanagarian launched herself into the air, flying right for Starfire. She drew her mace, holding it low and ready to strike. In response, Starfire held her hands at her sides, green energy enveloping them as she charged up her starbolts. She was under no delusion of what she faced; before her was a charging, battle-hardened Thanagarian warrior and she was expecting Starfire to blast at her from a distance. Unfortunately, that was her preferred option, which meant she would need to do something surprising to catch her off guard.

As it turned out, that something surprising came from another quarter. Before Hawkgirl reached her, the distorted air created by Pied Piper's gun hit her in the back, causing her to spasm in midair, careening rather than soaring forward as she reached to clasp her hands over her ears. Her mace dangle from a strap wrapped around her wrist, which allowed her weapon to stay with her rather than fall to the wayside.

However, that unexpected assist provided the Tamaranian with the opening she needed. Thrusting her arms out in front of her, she fired her attack, blasting her opponent point blank. Ms. Shayera screamed for a different reason now as she was sent flying in the other direction, crashing into the top floor of a building a couple blocks away.

Breathing hard, Starfire stared at the smoke that wafted up into the air from that building. Because of this, she was unaware of the Rogues—the remaining three—approaching her, coming to stand at her side rather than against her. "Nice shooting, kid," Cold complimented her. "Got any more from where that came from?"

"I do," she replied as she steadied her breathing. "However, you need to vacate this area for your safety."

"Sheila, you just blew Hawkgirl into the next neighborhood," Captain Boomerang exclaimed. "If there's any place for us, it's right here."

"I second that," Pied Piper agreed quietly.

"You are forgetting about Green Lantern," Starfire said just as softly as the hooded man. "While I am confident in my abilities, I cannot protect all of you from both of them at the same time."

"Kid, we're the Rogues," Cold boasted as he turned to look at her. "Each and every one of us gave the Flash a run for his money every time we squared off. We can keep one of those creeps off of you while you take out the other. Once that's done, we all focus on the last one and they're down for the count."

There was a flash of green, which was the only warning any of them had; however, it was enough for Starfire to react immediately, turning to push Cold away, sending the man in the parka stumbling away and ultimately losing his balance. By the time he landed on his butt, a green beam tore right through the space he had been standing.

"Go!" she screamed as her eyes burned green, looking up to see Green Lantern floating in midair, pointing his ring at them.

"Ya know, I think the girlie has a bloody good point," Captain Boomerang said then. "Time to retreat." Immediately, the man spun around then took off running down the street before disappearing into an alleyway, the Pied Piper man running after him. A glance to Cold showed him scrambling onto his feet and heading for another, closer alleyway.

"Stand down, Starfire," John Stewart demanded as he began to descend towards the red haired woman. "You are aiding and abetting known fugitives. If you surrender know, I guarantee I'll take you in alive."

"So you can hunt those poor men down?" she shouted back defiantly. "No! I will not allow your villainy to continue forward. Today, I will end your threat."

"Girl, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," the Green Lantern reprimanded her. "And right now, I've had just about enough of your tantrum. If you're not going to cooperate, then go ahead. I'll put you down— _hard_."

"Just like what you did with Heat Wave?" she challenged.

His green eyes flashed brightly. "That's right. Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, I hereby declare you an enemy of the state. Prepare to die."

* * *

To Guest: We'll see how it turns out. I will get into which armor was pulled out soon enough. Just look at the cover for Injustice 2 for a better idea.


	30. Dawn Of A Revolution

The Hall of Justice loomed over its plaza as midday approached. It was hard to find shadows in the surrounding city, but they had found one.

Situated in the shrinking shadow of a roof access, Batman watched the Hall with a set of binoculars in hand. There was a distinct lack of external patrols, which stood at odds with Mr. Terrific's recent excursion. That was not in line with how the Regime protected its base of power and it was concerning to him.

A presence was at his side then; Batwoman had returned. "I haven't found any snipers or lookouts," she reported, crouching next to him.

That was also cause for worry. What the hell was going on? All of their intel indicated how protective the Regime was of this place. Something about this wasn't right. "How far did you check?" he asked, never once lowering his binoculars.

"Several blocks in all directions," she answered him, not looking at him either. "I climbed the highest skyscraper I could find and surveyed the area. There's no one out here but us."

There was a pause. "You're worried about the lack of security, aren't you?"

Batman nodded, finally lowering his binoculars. "Something doesn't feel right about this, at all."

"It would be nice if we had some intel," she agreed. "When do we storm the Hall?"

"When we know Superman is all alone in there," he answered as he shoved the binoculars back onto his belt. His armor felt strange, mostly due to the fact that he had changed prior to staking out the Hall of Justice. Each piece of armor was its own rather than the sleek version he had been wearing previous. The separation made for an adjustment, but it was one he would have to live with. The aesthetics itself weren't as bothersome, what with the wings of the Bat Symbol longer and the horns of his cowl shorter. Standing up, the costume's parts shifting as he moved, he walked around the roof access, Batwoman following. Pulling out the jewel Dr. Fate had left for them, he held it out. "Fate," he said, "we need to talk."

For a few moments, nothing happened. The jeweled piece just sat in his outstretched hand, gleaming in the sun. Batman was about to command it again when a strange glow began to emanate from it. Soon, it was floating off of his palm, allowing him to draw his hand back.

And then the sign of the ankh enveloped it. " _What is it, Batman?"_ the hollowed voice of Fate answered.

"Batwoman and I have staked out the Hall of Justice," he immediately informed the sorcerer. "What's the status of the others?"

There was a moment before he received the requested report. " _Oliver Queen and Michael Holt are just arriving at Cyborg's lab in Motor City. Ra's al Ghul is moving into position as we speak."_

Batman nodded even though Fate couldn't see him. Or maybe he could, it didn't really matter. "Once Cyborg is neutralized, we'll move on the Hall, but only once we're sure Superman is the only Regime member left. Can you tell me where the rest of the Regime is and why the security at the Hall is less than reported?"

Fate's answer was immediate. " _Superman has begun spreading his forces out,"_ came the reply. " _He has sent a unit to Motor City to protect Cyborg. They are currently in transit. Wonder Woman and Shazam are currently in the Hall of Justice while Aquaman is residing in Atlantis. I cannot detect where Enchantress is at the moment."_ There was a pause. " _And Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are in combat in Neo-Central City."_

Though he was worried about Wonder Woman and Shazam still being in the Hall, that last statement caught his attention. "Who are Lantern and Hawkgirl fighting?"

" _It would seem the Tamaranian, Starfire, has defected. They are currently trying to subdue her."_

Interesting. The dark-clad man wasn't sure what led to this defection, but it did provide them with an opportunity. "Element Woman and Jaime are still with you, correct?"

" _That is correct."_

"Send Element Woman to assist in Neo-Central City. I don't know what this Starfire can do, but Element Woman has the best chance of surviving if all three turn against her."

" _Very well. I will also take the liberty of putting Jaime into play as well."_

Batman narrowed his eyes. "Where," he stated more than asked

" _Atlantis."_

The vigilante scowled. "No, he's not prepared to take on an underwater armored guard, much less their king."

" _I will be assisting,"_ Dr. Fate assured him. " _He will not be alone in this venture, that I assure you."_

"You better tell me what you're planning, Fate, or I'll—"

" _Our time is up,"_ Fate interrupted him. " _The time for our attack is at hand. You have your part to play as do the rest of us."_

"But what about Wonder Woman and Shazam?" Batwoman questioned. "We can't move with them still here."

" _Worry not, Batwoman. Their removal will be occurring shortly. I highly suggest you prepare yourself; we are about to fight for the fate of the world and there will be no second chance."_

* * *

Dr. Fate closed the magical channel between him and the two Gotham vigilantes. He already knew there were reservations on their side, but not even Fate would bow down before Batman. The eve of destiny was upon them and they had to meet it, or doom the world to perpetual oppression. Even if that meant lying to his allies' faces.

He had allowed this planet to fall into its current state. That had been a mistake and one he would atone for for the rest of his days.

As the golden ankh faded away before him, the sorcerer turned to face his charges. Emily Sung and Jaime Reyes stared at him with a mixture of anticipation and nervousness—anticipation for Sung and nervousness for Reyes. There was a part of him that was hesitant to thrust the two into battle. However, neither was in the position to avoid their impending fate. Neither would be able to live normal lives should the Regime continue its dominance. There was no choice in the matter for them and they must be used to their maximum effectiveness.

"Emily Sung," he spoke to them, earning himself their collective attention. "Jaime Reyes, the time for our counterattack is immanent. Are you prepared?"

"Oh, absolutely, Mr. Dr. Fate!" Emily exclaimed merrily. "I'm ready to go anytime, anywhere! You send me there and I'll give 'em heck! You just watch!"

Her enthusiasm was appreciated, but a trifle overdone. Jaime was looking to her in awe, not something the young boy needed to be at this time. He would need all of his self-confidence in the coming moments.

"Then here are your orders," he spoke. "Currently, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are attempting to apprehend a group calling themselves the Rogues. You are to apprehend these two, understood?"

"Whoa, wait a second!" Jaime interjected. "I thought the plan was to get these guys alone, you know, for one-on-one fights. We're not supposed to fight these guys in pairs."

"And it will be as such," Dr. Fate reassured him. "I have been monitoring the situation since the battle began. I believe such an opportunity still exists. However, we must act quickly if we are to take advantage of the current episode."

Turning to a side, he held out his hand and a much larger ankh appeared before the three. Slowly, a scene appeared through the symbol, that of Neo-Central City. "Seek out the Regime and put a stop to them," he commanded, looking to Emily.

"I don't see them there," Jaime pointed out. "Can't you at least set her down somewhere close by?"

"If I set her closer, that would give away the element of surprise," Dr. Fate explained. "We will need every conceivable advantage that we can get in this fight. It will not be hard to locate Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl will be close enough."

"Oh," the boy murmured, suitably chastised.

Satisfied that he had made his point, the sorcerer returned his attention to Emily. "Go forth," he told her, "and reclaim your world."

Emily saluted him. "Yes, Drill Sergeant!" She then began to stretch her body, her feet staying in place as her head and upper body rose high into the air. Her midsection became see through, indicating that she was changing her form to that of a gas. Soon, only her head and shoulders retained solidity before she cascaded downward while her former-lower body rushed upwards and then followed downwards after the rest of her gaseous form. Her head flew right for the ankh and vanished through it, the rest of her body following until she had completely passed through the gateway. Dr. Fate shut it down the instant the insane woman was gone.

That just left him and Jaime. As he turned his attention to the boy, he could see the young one's resolve dissipating with every passing second. "Dr. Fate...Sir?" he asked hesitantly. "I'm not sure I can go through with this."

Fate frowned beneath his helmet. Now was not the time for second guessing. However, he could not be blunt. If he were to force the matter onto Jaime, he could shatter what was left of his self-confidence and end up sending him to his death. That could not happen.

"Jaime Reyes," he intoned, getting the young man's attention. "You were destined to become the host of the Scarab. Do not doubt your worthiness in this regard. If it were supposed to be another, it would have done so. In the short time that it has bonded to you, you have learned to control it; this is not a small accomplishment. You are the worthy heir to the mantle of the Blue Beetle. Wearing it proudly and do it justice. That is the path laid out before you."

"You...you really think so?"

The sorcerer tilted his head up, eyes glazing over. "It has been foretold."

"Oh...okay...alright." The boy became a nervous ball of energy then. "So what is my...uhh, mission?"

"I have a destination in mind." Again he held his hand out and a large ankh appeared. "Step into the ankh, Jaime, and I will show you your future."

* * *

They had ditched the car several blocks away. Thankfully, most people seemed to avoid the Industrial Area of Motor City, otherwise it was going to be a bit tough explaining why one man was dressed as Robin Hood and the other had a T painted on his face. It was an obvious question with an answer that could bring down an entire garrison of storm troopers on their heads.

It was a good thing the garrison had been destroyed last week.

Bow in hand, Ollie kept a lookout as Mr. Terrific hacked into the security server, looking for a way to get them inside the large factory. According to Dr. Fate, this was Cyborg's private playground and he was somewhere in here. Considering he was the main communications hub for the Regime, if they took him down, they could cripple those bastards long enough to take them down.

"Got it," Terrific announced and disengaged his little hand-held computer. Promptly he opened the door and the two men slipped inside.

As it turned out, they had entered right into a break room. A couple of tables with some styrofoam cups of cold coffee were situated in the room. There was even an old-time punch clock hanging on the wall, though there wasn't a single time card in sight. Either they did their times elsewhere, or these soldier guys were very generous with their time. You didn't have to pay a volunteer force, after all.

"Any idea of where we need to go?" Ollie asked as he slowly pulled out an arrow, notching it to his bow.

"The Control Room, center of the complex," his partner informed him. He too had a weapon out, a small, pistol-shaped gun. However, this puppy didn't fire bullets, but a nice electrical pulse, courtesy of the Bat Underground. Holding their weapons low in front of them, the archer taking the lead, they made their way to the break room door, opening it, and entering a long hallway.

A hallway with a guard patrolling it.

Thankfully, the guy had his back to them as he limbered down the hall. Pulling his arrow back, Ollie took aim at the man, and released his bolt. Damn near silently, the arrow shot through the air and stuck the man right between his shoulder blades. A sharp cry came from the man, but he dropped to the floor, the shaft sticking right out of him.

"Did you kill him?" Terrific demanded from behind him, looking over the green-clad archer's shoulder.

"Nah, he's just sleeping hard," the blond man replied, placating his partner. "The armor these guys wear are too thick to get an arrow through them, but I know a couple weak spots where I can make a shallow wound. There's a sedative on the arrowhead, something Bats gave to me. I gotta say, he wasn't kidding when he said it was fast acting."

"Yeah," the T-faced man agreed. Seeing as they were done talking, the two continued with their trek, stepping over the unconscious guard as they passed him.

There were a few more patrols, but they were easily dealt with, each man ending with an arrow sticking out of their body as they lay comatose on the floor. Mr. Terrific didn't even have to zap anyone with his taser considering Ollie was getting at each guard from long distance. In fact, their little infiltration was going along quite swimmingly.

That fact only served to rub Ollie wrong.

This was a known base for the Regime. It currently housed one of the most important members of the Regime. While a lot of manpower had been eliminated during the Red Lantern Attacks, there were still enough to actually put a solid guard here and the Hall of Justice. Yet, the resistance that was being found was, to say the least, lacking. It was almost as if this were a trap.

"Hey, Terrific," he whispered to his comrade. "You wouldn't happen to know just how many guards are stationed here, would you?"

"Actually, I do," the man answered, which made Ollie feel quite a bit better. "When I was hacking in, I looked for how many guards were stationed here. To be honest, there isn't much. Maybe twenty men, tops.

"And we've taken out at least five," the Emerald Archer responded. "Why so few? I mean, Cyborg is here, ain't he?"

"It's because they had to spread their remaining men globally," Terrific explained, which caused Ollie's head to perk up in understanding. "They can't afford to focus all of their troops to a handful of locations; they have to show the world they were unaffected by that alien invasion. Anything less and they risk showing weakness, which gives certain people ideas."

"And by certain people, you mean us."

"If the shoe fits."

Well, that made him feel infinitely better. "So how far away from the Control Room are we?" he asked then.

"One more turn and it should be the double doors."

Reaching the first turn, both men turned into it and came to a stop. A short distance away was a set of double doors, just as Mr. Terrific said. "You ready for this?" Ollie questioned lowly to his comrade, completely serious. "It's now or never."

"Then it's now." Surprisingly, Terrific stepped forward and pushed against the doors. Even more shocking was that the doors opened. Ollie had honestly been expecting some sort of electrical lock, or something to keep people out. Quickly, he went after Terrific, passing through the doorway before the doors swung closed behind them.

The Control Room was a rather boring place. One wall was pretty much entirely a computer console and there wasn't much else. There was a line of what Ollie assumed to be windows, but there were covering on them, practically sealed on so as to block out any of their light. Even more importantly was the distinct lack of Cyborg anywhere.

"So where is he?" the archer asked out loud as he began turning his head to the left and the right, searching in vain for their target. He eyed a couple different doors, but he noticed a couple of keypads next to the door frames.

"Not here, apparently," Terrific replied even as he made a beeline for the computer terminal. As if his fingers were magnetized, they went straight to a keyboard and the hacker began typing. Instantly, the computer screen on the wall began computing whatever commands Mr. Terrific was entering.

"So now what? Do we go somewhere else?" Ollie pressed as he lowered his bow, allowing the drawstring to lose tension and slowly pushed his notched arrow forward.

"This is exactly where we need to be," Terrific answered him. "From here, we can find out what the Regime is cooking up here and shut it down."

"Oh, right. I'll let you get on that."

A few moments passed in silence, which only made Ollie's paranoia come back with a vengeance. It was one thing to sneak around a facility with minimal guards; it was another to get into the heart of the building with minimal difficulty and pretty much be on the cusp of shutting down whatever program was being run here. Nothing in life was this easy.

And yet, so far it was.

"I think I found what Cyborg was working on here," Terrific suddenly announced, which got Ollie's attention. Looking to the computer screen, he saw something called PROJECT TORNADO and some diagram of a person, or a humanoid at least. Robot perhaps?

"What am I looking at?" he asked.

"It's just like we were told, the Regime is trying to make an army of replaceable soldiers," the hacker told him glumly. His face then became bleak. "And according to this, a prototype has been finished."

"Then that means we have to destroy it along with this factory," the archer declared sternly.

Naturally, that was when one of the doors opened, causing both men to pivot around. Strolling into the room was Cyborg, rubbing his hands in a dirty rag. The cyborg immediately came to a stop once he saw them. For a moment, all three of them just started at each other, frozen in astonishment.

And then a smirk appeared on Cyborg's face. "As I live and breath, Oliver Queen."

* * *

The ship creaked as it swayed from starboard to port and back. Water splashed as its surface was split by the bow. The wind was picking up, causing the sails to billow outward, assisting in pushing the boat forward.

Ra's stood towards the stern, observing his men at work as they made adjustments to the sails, carried supplies and weapons from one area to another, and one man manned the wheel. His green cloak fluttered in the breeze, but it did little to sate his growing enthusiasm.

It had been quite some time since the Demon's Head had led an expedition of this size. Surrounding his ship was in fact a small armada, all of wooden ships that had been repaired, refurbished, and stocked with a variety of weapons Superman's Regime would never account for. They were concerned with the presence of guns and missiles and atomic bombs. They didn't pay attention to weapons that had long since been retired for more destructive ones.

It would be an oversight they would come to regret.

It was fortunate that this fleet had been prepared ever since the initial planning with the Detective commenced. Even more fortunate was that Dr. Fate had magicked him right to the ships so that they could set sail immediately. The technology of these boats were certainly a couple centuries old, but that kept them off of the living cyborg's radar. The only ships that were allowed to safely transverse the oceans were now cruise ships. Military destroyers and aircraft carriers had been decommissioned and torn apart for scrap metal. It was short-sighted in his opinion, but for now it allowed for him safe passage through the Mediterranean.

A warmth filled his pocket then, alerting Ra's to an incoming message. Pulling out the half-crescent medallion he had received from Dr. Fate, he allowed it to float from his hand and watched as it was replaced with a golden ankh.

" _Ra's al Ghul, what is your status?"_ Fate's voice requested.

"My fleet is almost within range of the target," the Demon's Head informed the sorcerer. "We should be coming up to the coast at any moment."

" _You should hurry,"_ came the response, something that caused Ra's to narrow his eyes. He knew they were on a timetable, but to demand 19th Century ships to increase their speed was a rather ridiculous notion considering their dependence on wind.

However, he knew Dr. Fate would not make such a demand if it were not necessary. "What is happening?" he demanded as he loomed over the ankh.

" _Our counterattack on the Regime has commenced,"_ he was informed, which concerned Ra's. It was much too early for such confrontation. No one should have caused an early triggering of their plan. If the Regime felt the Hall of Justice was in danger, they would summon their entire roster and fortify their position. This revolution would be for naught in that scenario.

" _As I speak, the Regime members Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are engaged in combat,"_ Dr. Fate explained _. "I have just sent Element Woman to investigate the scene and attempt to use it to our advantage. Green Arrow and Mr. Terrific had begun their infiltration of Cyborg's factor in Motor City in response."_

"And the Detective?" Ra's questioned.

" _He and Batwoman have stationed themselves outside of the Hall of Justice."_

Which meant the Detective was a few moves short of check on the Kryptonian. It seemed Dr. Fate was about to order his portion of the plan to go forth. Leaving the stern, the Demon's Head made his way across the deck to the bow, the ankh following him from behind. Reaching his destination, he stood to the right of the figurehead, one of a mermaid crafted by a Spaniard long ago.

Looming in front of him was the sheer cliffs of an island. Further down the coast was a beach, their intended location for landing. For centuries, Ra's al Ghul believed Paradise Island was merely a myth, a story for women empowerment that failed to take hold. When Wonder Woman appeared, it had shattered his preconceived notion and caused him to seek out its location—to which he had failed.

It was only by happenstance that he had managed to divine the location. Centuries ago, a Spanish ship had been sailing these very waters and discovered the island. When the crew attempted to land, they had been assailed by the Amazons, going so far as to board the ship and slaughter the remaining crew. Only a priest had survived the massacre and managed to return to Spain, upon which he told his story, only to be ignored and labeled a vagrant. Fortunately, the priest had created a map, one which vanished upon his death.

The map's whereabouts following the priest's death still remain a mystery. Ultimately, it found its way into a collection of Spanish artifacts in what was labeled the New World Exhibit. It was mistakenly apart of a collection in Central America, viewed as a map used by seafarers in the region. When Ra's came upon the map during his time in hiding from the Regime, he realized exactly what it was. He knew the Mediterranean Coast by heart alone and no one could tell him otherwise. Procuring the map was a simple endeavor, but he didn't have the time to take advantage of it.

Until now.

Unlike the Spaniards, Ra's was no fool. He would not underestimate the Amazons like they had. Turning around to face the ankh, he said, "We are almost to Paradise Island. Within the hour, we will launch our invasion and take the island."

The ankh hovered there for a moment. Then, " _You will need to launch sooner rather than later. The others are moving into place much sooner than anticipated."_

"Then that is what we will do," Ra's intoned. "Worry not, Doctor, for the Demon's Fang will uphold its obligation. That you can count on."

" _Very well. You may attack when ready."_ The ankh began to fade away then, leaving the crescent medallion hovering in midair. Ra's reached out and took possession of the medallion, placing it in his pocket once more.

He then returned to gaze upon Paradise Island. It had grown closer, but the view had not changed very much. Soon, footsteps alerted him to the presence of one of his men. "We are almost at our destination, Sire," the man informed him. "What are your orders?"

"Prepare the long boats," Ra's ordered, never once turning to face the man. He was a mere subject after all, nothing more. "We will land as soon as possible. I want all ships in position in the next ten minutes, and boots on the shore in twenty."

Reaching up, Ra's undid the brooch that held his cloak together. The cloth slid off his shoulders and piled onto the deck. Green body armor shone in the daylight, its design of a bygone era long forgotten, but not by him. His arms bear, he turned around and gaze coolly at his man. "I will be in the first boat to set foot on the Isle of Women."

"Yes, Sire," the man responded before he turned around and went to carry out the order. He knew better than to second guess the Demon's Head.

Holding his hands up, Ra's made adjustments to the forearm guards he wore, the three blades jutting of them. Unlike the curved ones of the Detective and his apprentice, these were more rectangular and flat, much like the ones the Detective had worn when he was apart of the Demon's Fang. The weight of his swords on his back made their presence known as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, their hilts emerging from behind his shoulders and hovering on either side of his head.

It had been quite some time since he had participated in battle and an even longer time since he anticipated it. There was a growing sense of eagerness within him that Ra's found peculiar, but he relished in it. In fact, he hadn't felt this way since his frequent engagements with Napoleon.

"Women of Amazonia," he muttered as he began to make his way towards the port side of the ship, "pray you do not disappointment in this engagement. I look forward to experiencing your combat prowess personally."

As if in answer, the low bass of a horn rang from the island, a warning call to its citizens. It was only a matter of time before the Amazonian Warriors were gathered at the beachhead, awaiting their arrival.

Oh yes, Ra's al Ghul was most exuberant for this.

* * *

To Guest: He's about to have his hands full with his own fight. We'll see though.


	31. The Tides Of War

A red streak burned through the air, a similar green giving chase. Wind lashing out at her face, Starfire eyed a skyscraper up ahead and to her right. Looking over her shoulder, the Green Lantern was hot on her trail, his arms at his sides as he fought to catch up with her.

Returning her sights to the skyscraper, she made the right turn just as she passed it, dropping in altitude somewhat as she now flew over a new street. Though she was content with having John Stewart chasing her, it had been quite some time since she had last seen Hawkgirl. She accredited that to her speed, but she had a nagging thought the Thanagarian was waiting somewhere out of sight, ready to strike her at a moment's notice. At least, that is how things played out in the movies she had seen here.

Maybe she really had lost the winged woman, she was not sure.

Looking over her shoulder again, Starfire widened her eyes as she saw a green beam racing towards her. Gliding to her left, she dodged the blast, watching as it hit the pavement further down the street and exploded. Jerking her head back, she could see John Stewart pointing his ring finger at her, charging up another attack.

Returning her attention in front of her, she saw she was rapidly approaching an intersection on the city building grid, one she made a left on, maintaining her altitude this time. There was another intersection perhaps a hundred Earth yards ahead, though as she approached it, she noticed some sort of walkway between a building and a parking garage, the bridge suspended over the street below it.

Immediately, the Tamaranean made the turn, swooping downwards as she flew underneath the walkway. The moment she cleared it, she angled her body straight up, shooting up into the sky. Twisting her body so that she could face her pursuer, she charged up a starbolt in her hand, pulling her arm back as she came to the apex of her flight.

Without waiting for a clear target, Starfire threw her attack towards the corner of the building, right at the intersection she had made her turn. Her timing was nearly spot on as the Green Lantern turned the corner around the building, coming right into the path of the approaching starbolt.

Unfortunately, the man dodged to his right, her left, avoiding her blast as it passed by him harmlessly. Without missing a beat, the Green Lantern aimed his ring at her and fired another green beam towards her.

Starfire watched its approach for a moment before she flew upwards, allowing the beam to race beneath her much like her previous attack had missed John Stewart. With both hands above her head, green energy crackling between—and soon around—her hands, the redhead let out a war cry as she threw her arms forward and launched her charged starbolt.

This time, John Stewart fired another beam at her attack, only for the beam to create a green-glowing brick wall. The starbolt struck the construct and detonated, green fire washing over the wall.

"Haaaaaa!"

Jerking her head to a side, Starfire saw the bottom of Hawkgirl's shoes closing in on her at an alarming rate. To be more precise, those feet were mere feet from her head when she got her first look at them. Less than a second later, Hawkgirl rammed her feet into the Tameranian's face, her head wrenching to a side awkwardly and painfully. For a moment, it seemed as if her body was trying not to move while her head was, which was the result of the pain in her neck she was feeling.

And then the force in which she had been hit with sent her careening through the air, passing through the gap between floor levels of the parking garage. Due to her downward angle, she crashed right into the concrete floor of the garage, causing the man-made stone to crumble from her impact. Pain exploded through her body as she burst through the floor level and hit the next one. Due to her momentum being greatly reduced by the previous floor, she only caused a spider's web of cracks to form where she hit the floor, her body bouncing off the concrete as she went skipping across the ground. Large chunks of the ceiling collapsed onto the floor, scattering smaller pieces in all directions. Starfire's bouncing quickly ended after a couple more bounces and she went into a roll, one that ended with her lying on her side, her face contorted with discomfort.

It seemed the movies were wrong about her losing Hawkgirl. Just one more lie this Earth told her.

Eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted, Starfire slowly pushed her upper body up, her legs stretched out on the floor. Opening her eyes, she was just in time to see Green Lantern and Hawkgirl floating into the parking garage, the man holding his ring hand out in front of him while the Thanagarian had one hand dangling at her side and the other on her hip.

"This is the end of the line for you, Starfire," John Stewart told her, his ring sparking with green energy. "Your only choices are arrest, or death. Resist any further and it'll only be death."

"What happened?" the red-haired woman asked weakly. "What caused you to go down this dark path? You were not this way when I left."

"Life happened," Hawkgirl responded bluntly, dropping down so that her feet touched the floor. She stayed clear of the pile of debris as she began walking the rest of the short distance between them. Her comrade did the same, though he kept a step behind the winged woman. "In fact, you know what happened. You were still here when Flash was murdered. Losing someone close to you changes you."

"But Mr. Flash would not want you to be this way," she pressed desperately. "Even his enemies respect him. I cannot believe a man like this is willing to kill others like you do."

"Don't talk like you know him," John Stewart barked at her angrily. "You never met him. You wouldn't know what he'd want. We do. And we know he'd want the world as safe as possible."

Due to the openings of the parking garage, a breeze blew through the complex, causing the women's hair to ruffle in the wind. Faintly, the scent of chalk reached the Tamaranean's nose. The resolution this man and woman spoke with made Starfire question what she knew of this world. Were they doing what their late-friend would want? She did not, in fact, know the man, so she could not say for sure. Perhaps they were right and this is what he wanted.

Perhaps she should surrender herself and receive the punishment she now deserved.

"I suppose I am wrong," she spoke slowly, lowering her head in shame. "For that I apologize. Do what you will with me."

"Best decision you made all day," John Stewart said as he then pointed his ring to her. "We'll be taking you—"

Suddenly, a burst of flames raced from one side of Starfire's vision and rammed right into John Stewart and Hawkgirl, both of them cried out as they were enveloped in the fire. Blinking her eyes, Starfire stared as the torrent of flames ended, leaving a trail across the floor and a localized fire right where her former comrades stood.

Turning her head to where the source of the fire began, the redhead saw a wall with a strange woman emerging from it. She was in fact one of the most bizarre-looking people she had ever seen, what with her different colored arms and legs. Her pink hair looked marvelous, however.

"Oh, yay! I made it in time!" the woman exclaimed before she turned her head to look at Starfire. "Hi there! My name is Element Woman! I am an Insurgent!"

"Hello!" Starfire returned the greeting warmly, this new woman's friendly nature becoming quite infectious. "I am Starfire, a princess of Tamaran!"

"Ooooooh!" the pinked-haired woman squealed, "a real-life princess! I always wanted to meet one!" She then hurried over to Starfire, where she reached down with both hands, Starfire instantly placing her own in this new person's. "Let me help you up, your Highness," she said, doing just that. With both women standing up, their smiles nearly mirrored each other. "I hope you are alright."

"I am," Starfire told her. "Though I was preoccupied with Mr. Green Lantern and Miss Hawkgirl."

And then this Element Woman's smile lost some of its luster. "Oh, dear me, I'm sorry. You would think I would know not to get in the way of royalty. Oh! And you must have smelled when I was changing too! I am so, so sorry about that. It's a little chalky and it's really embarrassing, but I've been working to change that."

"I am sure you will accomplish this!" Starfire proclaimed then, placing a hand on her new friend's shoulder. "But I fear you have come at a wrong time. You see, I am being arrested for resisting the Regime."

"You're fighting against the Regime too?!" Element Woman exclaimed excitedly too. "So am I!"

That got the Tamaranean's attention. "You struggle against them? Is that why you are here?"

"It is! In fact," the pink-haired woman leaned towards her, her voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper, "the Insurgency is about to depose the Regime."

Depose? As in...were they...could it be? Starfire leaned in closer as well, green eyes wide with wonder. "Are you leading a coup?" she breathed lowly, even huskily.

Element Woman looked thoughtfully at that. "You know, I think you could be right. This is a coup."

 _Oh...my...X'Hal._ Starfire could not suppress the squeal she made, feeling quite giddy as her body shook with excitement. "You really are leading a coup! Please! Let me join you! I can be of much assistance! I, myself, have been involved in many coups so my experience will be a great asset to you!"

The other woman looked at her with wide eyes. "You have? Oh! That is so great! We at the Insurgency could use someone of your expertise! I simply must introduce you to Batman! He'll know what to do!" She squealed again. "This is just so exciting!"

"Ugh, can you two stop your love-fest over there?"

Both women snapped their heads to the burning fire, at least what was left of it. Emerging from the dying flames was a green bubble, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl safely within it. There were matching scowls on their faces, revealing their displeasure. The green bubble slowly faded away, the two Regime members standing their ground.

"It seems we have another Insurgent to capture," the Thanagarian announced, one hand moving to the handle of her mace at her hip. "Though I'm really losing my patients about all of this."

"New Friend, what do we do?" Starfire whispered, even as she crouched into a defensive stance.

"Batman said that the way to beat them is to get them one-on-one," Element Woman responded quietly back. "Since there are two of us now, I say we take one each."

That sounded like a reasonable strategy. "Do you have a preference?" she asked.

"I'd like to take on Green Lantern if that is alright? Do you mind?"

"Not at all, Friend Element Woman. I will take care of Miss Hawkgirl."

"Uhh, you do realize we can hear you," John Stewart said.

The two women looked to each other before returning their attention to the Regime. Starbolts formed in Starfire's hands as fire enveloped Element Woman's hands and forearms. "I am ready!" the redhead announced.

"Me too!" her friend replied.

Together, then threw their arms out in front of them and fired their attacks.

* * *

The long boat cut through the waves, lurching forward as it bobbed up and down, the bottom of the boat splashing water up every time it hit the surface. Ra's stood at the bow, one foot on the seat, the other in the boat's bottom. Behind him, his men rowed the boat, their paddles dipping into the water and out of it as they surged forward.

There were dozens more in the periphery of his eyes, which didn't count for the number following his boat. The beach was coming closer with every second and they would soon be landing.

However, Ra's had his eyes not on the beach but the cliffs that surrounded it. Even from here he could make out the number of warriors stationed up there, no doubt with bows and arrows aimed right at them. If their positions were reversed, he would have done the exact same thing.

Yet, that was not all. He could also see the formation of columns towards the visible treeline of the island, ancient Amazonian battle armor shining in the sun, large shields and spears in each warrior's hands. He could see the classic phylax forming.

There was perhaps thirty feet between the boats and the shore. The coming minutes would determine the success of their mission, primarily if they could gain a foothold. They could not afford to be pushed back into the sea at this juncture.

Twenty feet left. Ra's stepped off the seat and kneeled down, bracing himself for landing.

Ten feet.

Five.

The boat came to a jarring stop as it slid right into wet sand. Immediately, the men behind Ra's jumped out of the boat, groups of three rushing forward with long rectangular shields in front of them. The Demon's Head waited a moment before he stood up and stepped off the boat, his boots splashing in the surf as he began walking onto the beach.

That was when the first volley came. Arrows were fired off of the cliffs, flying down towards his loyal men. As one, each three-man team raised their combined shields up, holding it above their heads. The arrows never stood a chance as they pelted against the cast iron, bouncing off of it harmlessly. Ra's did not bother with taking cover as two groups of his men came to his defense, one in front and one behind. The six men hefted their shields up held them over the ancient man's head.

By then, more boats had landed, the men in those boats following their example. Pushing several yards inland, they then began to take a formation, all while arrows rained down upon them. Ra's expected a handful of casualties from this incursion, but so far his well-trained men remained unharmed. Slowly, they began to form their own columns, all while keeping safe under their heavy shields. In fact, as the men moved closer to each other, the shields joined together, forming a larger shield over their heads.

And then, a horn sounded off. Shortly after, the barrage of arrows stopped. Someone must have ordered a ceasefire.

Moving forward, Ra's emerged from underneath the shield, coming to stand before his rows of men. From here, he could definitely see the phylax the Amazons had formed, the women marching towards them as the falls of their feet made a steady beat.

They came to a stop perhaps a hundred yards away. One of the Amazonians then pulled out of the formation, a tall, redhead from what he could tell. She walked perhaps ten, fifteen more feet before coming to a stop. "Halt!" she commanded the Demon's Fang. "Do not come any further invaders, or face the wrath of the Amazon Nation!"

"Hoo haa!" the woman warriors chanted behind her in response.

Ra's tilted his head back defiantly. "Warriors of Amazonia," he called back, taking a couple steps forward himself, but not going much further. "Before you stands the finest warriors of the Demon's Fang. I am called Ra's al Ghul, the Demon's Head. Lay down your arms and surrender yourselves."

There was a silence from the Amazons, yet, Ra's could feel the furious stares from the women. It had to have been millennia since a man made such an audacious order of them. It was probably even longer for a foe to have the might to back up their declaration as well.

"No, Demon's Head," the red-haired woman responded, rage evident in her voice. "You have set foot on an island that prohibits the presence of men. The longer you stay here only seals your fate. This is your only opportunity to board your boats and flee from this island."

Ra's coolly stared back. "Then prepare yourself, Amazon. Your people's blood shall paint this beach red."

The Amazon leader stood her ground before she nodded her acceptance. "Very well, _Man._ Do not die so quickly before my blade gets a chance to taste your flesh." She then held her shield up in front of her and backed herself to her brethren, joining the phylax.

Ra's turned his back to the women. No doubt they were trying to send instructions throughout their ranks and to the archers on the cliffs. They would not attempt to kill him for the moment. "Men!" he shouted, earning the full attention of the Demon's Fang. "Before you stands a battlefield of glory! You have trained yourself for this very day, a destiny that was yours before you were born. Your foe is a force out of the mists of legend. They are trained in the art of war; you are better. For some of you, Death will be your just reward; for others, another opportunity to serve your master. For all of you, immortality as minstrels will sing of your dedication and skill."

Ra's spun around to face the Amazons, one of his hands raising to the hilt of the sword over his right shoulder. Grabbing it, he pulled the blade out, the sound of steel scraping against leather filling his ears. Once removed, he held his sword up over his head, the point up to the sky. In response, his men lowered their shields, placing them on the sand next to each group, the men stepping to a side so as to avoid the large metal barriers as they collapsed onto the sand next to them. They too drew their swords, the collective sound of swords being pulled from scabbards filling the air.

"For the honor and glory of the Demon's Head!" Ra's cried out before dropping his sword's tip down to point at the Amazons.

Multiple dull roars rang out from behind him, the faint sound of whistling growing louder and louder. Out of the corner of Ra's eye, he could see figures scrambling on the top of the cliffs, right before cannonballs blasted into it. Stone and bodies were flung into the air as large chunks of the cliffs were ripped off their faces and tumbled to the sea below.

Yet, that was not all. More cannon fire struck the beach in the area between the Demon's Head and the Amazons. Sand was sent cascading up into the air, large metal balls either embedding themselves into the soft earth, or were sent bouncing forward.

The Amazons, though revered for their fighting prowess, had never come up against the power of the cannon. For the cannonballs that continued forward, they crashed right into the bronze shields and immediately broke through the line. Screams of pain and alarm rang out from the Amazonians as their front line was decimated.

Though primitive, the power of the cannon was not one Ra's had discounted. It was one of the few weapons the Regime had overlooked in their conquest of the world, an oversight he had taken advantage of. Right now, that decision was paying dividends as he saw ancient shields cave in or break apart, battle-hardened warriors crushed by flying iron.

Ra's then let out a war cry as he swept his sword to a side, taking off running across the beach. His men, his assassins roared with battle lust as they followed his lead. Sand was kicked up by his feet, but it was of little consequence. The cannon fire would be stopping, so there was no fear of being hit by friendly fire.

To the Amazons' credit, they attempted to recover, but at the sight of the charging assassins, they broke their lines, screaming their own battle cries as they surged forward. Like two tides, the two forces swept towards each other until they collided.

* * *

It wasn't often Diana found herself brooding, but that was indeed what she was doing. Instead of manning her post at the steps of Kal's seat, she was leaning a shoulder against the wall, arms crossed over her chest as she buried herself in thought.

She had almost had him. She could still see Bruce tied up in her lasso, ready to see the world as it truly was. The lies would have left his mind and he'd be at her side, the right side. Kal would have another brother-in-arms, though one that probably wouldn't supplicate himself before the Kryptonian. Had she not been in a foul mood, she would've smiled at that thought. The vigilante bowed before no man and Kal would not be any different. It would've chaffed Kal, but he would've accepted it, albeit reluctantly. Such was the price for a warrior of Bruce's caliber.

But then she had been hit with the Batmobile. She hadn't expected there to be someone else with Bruce, what with his secrecy and reluctance to take anyone to the Batcave. Even more surprising was that the car hadn't made a single sound until its was right on top of her, engine roaring. The force of the car slamming into her had stunned her long enough for a sleeping agent to be given to her. When she had awoke with no sight of Bruce or the Batmobile…

Well, let's just say she hadn't taken it well.

Now he was back out in the cold. No way would he chance returning to the Batcave now. Undoubtedly, whatever he had come for was long gone. She had tried searching those lower levels, but had found nothing so far. Another search would be required, but that would have to wait for now.

For instance, they had a traitor in their ranks. Their new recruit, Starfire, had renegaded her oath and had taken sides with the Rogues. She hardly knew the Princess of Tamaran, which was why she didn't feel too betrayed, but she would be given a traitor's death upon capture. Her culture dictated as such and Kal and the rest of the Justice League had accepted that as part of their warrior's code.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Arthur had yet to return from Atlantis. He had claimed to be gone for only a day or so, but it was now day three of his absence. While she understood he had a kingdom to watch over, his responsibilities to the Regime took precedent now. Until they restored their forces, they needed every able hand available and that included him.

Not everything was terrible at the moment, though. Shazam was back on his feet, seated in his favorite spot on the steps. He had suffered some harm from the clash at the Bat Underground hideout, but once he called upon his powers as Shazam, he was restored one hundred percent. He was itching for a rematch without a doubt, but thankfully the wisdom of Solomon kept him at bay rather than rushing out throughout the world in search for the Insurgency.

Unfortunately, that left two people in bad humor before Kal. The dark-haired man, to his credit, ignored their moods, calmly languishing in his seat. He pretended as if nothing was amiss, and perhaps nothing was to him.

So lost in her own thoughts was Diana that she failed to notice the room beginning to brighten. She even missed the light source appearing before her face until the light was as large as a ball before her. Blinking her eyes as she was pulled from her musings, she watched the orb of light grow bigger and bigger.

"Diana, what is that?" Shazam asked as he stood up on his feet, his body tight with tension. Before long, the light formed a large oval before the Amazon, soon an image appearing within its boundaries.

" _Diana,"_ the voice of her mother called out from the magical window. Soon, a visual of Hippolyta appeared, her face filled with concern and strain.

"Mother?" Diana replied, clearly startled. It took her a moment to recall this was her mother's way of hailing her from Themyscira, though she rarely used it these days. "Mother," she spoke again, this time with proper reverence in her greeting. "To what do I owe this call?"

Her words did nothing to change her mother's disposition. " _Diana, you must return to Themyscira,"_ Hippolyta ordered. " _We are in dire need of your assistance. Themyscira is under attack."_

The very blood in Diana's veins went cold. Her home...under attack? Soon, fury burned through her body as her face twisted with anger. "I am coming, Mother," she said dreadfully. "Hold the intruders off until I arrive. It will not take long."

At last, Hippolyta gave her a small smile. " _We eagerly await your return, Daughter."_ Then her image faded into light before the light disappeared into nothingness. Turning on her feet, the Amazon marched to the doorway.

"Diana! Wait!" Shazam called after her, running to catch her. "You can't leave me alone with Superman. He only wants—"

"I don't care," Diana snapped at him, stopping with a hand on the door handle, her head turning to scowl at him. "My home is under attack and I will go to its defense. You will stay here to protect Kal at all cost. Do you hear me?"

The young man looked helpless at her. "But—" he tried again to dissuade her.

"Diana," Kal's cool voice rang out, causing the dark-haired woman to look to him. "Remain at your post. There's—"

"I will not!" she screamed before yanking the door open. "This is my home, Kal! I will not abandon it! You would do the same if it was Metropolis, or Smallville. Do not get in my way!" Without waiting for further reply, Diana passed through the doorway and rushed down the hallway. Faintly, she heard the sound of wind hitting a body and she knew Shazam was flying after her.

He may have been fast, but he was not fast enough to catch an Amazon.

Picking up her pace, Diana even took off into the air, racing down the hallways until she reached the outside, only landing long enough to open the doorway and step out. The entire time Shazam didn't catch her, but he did close the gap at the exit. "Diana! Don't go!" he shouted at her, bursting through the doorway before the door closed behind her.

Diana whipped around and openly scowled at Shazam. The look on her face immediately cowed the dark-haired youth as his body began to shrink on itself. "I am going," she said with finality. "And you will not stop me, not unless you wish to revisit the infirmary."

It took a moment, but Shazam finally surrendered. "Fine, I'll stay here," he relented warily.

 _Good._ Turning around, Diana lifted up into the air, flying upwards before she changed her course and took off for the East. She knew her Sisters would be able to hold on until she arrived. They had millennia to perfect their skills and it would be that edge that allowed them to triumph.

And Diana would make those responsible pay with their lives.

* * *

This was not good.

Helplessly, Shazam watched as Wonder Woman sped off through the air, heading for the ocean. Deep down, he understood what the Amazon must have been going through, really, he did. If his hometown was under attack, he probably would do the same thing as she was doing.

Yet, how many times had Superman ordered them to stand down when someone they cared about was in danger? And how many times did Wonder Woman back up his order? Too many to count in his opinion, never mind that most times they were right and everything ended up going their way.

It was hypocritical, but it was hard to blame her.

Of course, that left him as the only member with Superman. It was nice to be that first line of defense and all, but it was hard to do that with someone you looked up to. It would be one thing if they were in the heat of battle, but they weren't. They were just sitting around.

" _Hall of Justice, come in."_

Shazam's head perked up. That was John Stewart! "This is Shazam," he answered immediately.

" _Shazam, I need you to get over to Neo-Central City. We're having a_ — _argh! Having a difficult time here."_

"Say no more!" Shazam exclaimed. "I'm on my way." Without a second thought, he took off flying into the air, heading in the opposite direction as Wonder Woman had.

Though it was only the Rogues, even he knew they could stand up to superheroes and had done so regularly. Multiple ones would be tough for anyone, even Superman. Never mind that Wonder Woman wanted someone with the Kryptonian, Superman knew how to take care of himself—he was Superman after all!

And now, he was get a chance to redeem himself.


	32. Shutdown Communications

"As I live and breath, Oliver Queen."

Ollie held his bow tightly in one hand, the fingers of his other twitching to grab an arrow from his quiver. If it weren't for the fact that he knew such an action would start a fight, he would've done so already. Thing was, this was destined to be a brawl and the sooner he acted, the sooner he could put down Cyborg. There was just one problem.

Mr. Terrific was in the cyborg's view, which meant he had two different targets. Since Terrific was pretty damn important at the moment, he needed to draw their foe's attention away so that Terrific could keep doing his magic.

So Ollie made the only compromise he could think of. Slowly, he began walking to a side, hoping Cyborg would start circling the room with him. Once he got Terrific behind Cyborg's back, they could launch a surprise attack, or at the very least keep Cyborg ignorant to the hacker.

"So what are you doing here, Queen?" Cyborg asked as he began to mirror the archer's movement. "I highly doubt whatever it is is legal."

"You call it illegal, I call it fighting for freedom," Ollie returned, keeping his bow out in front of him, his free hand hanging behind. "In case you were wondering what that looked like, it's a world without the Star Wars Storm Troopers policing the streets while murderers are prosecuted for their crimes."

"Funny, that's how the world looks to me," Cyborg snapped back. "The only difference is that we make sure murderers don't get endless chances to kill people."

"I noticed you didn't mention anything about the Storm Troopers."

"That's just a small price to pay so that people can sleep at night."

"Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling you don't get out much," Ollie remarked. By now he definitely had Cyborg's attention; in fact, the mechanical man almost had his entire back to Mr. Terrific. "Have you actually talked to anyone other than your Regime buddies? When's the last time you actually walked the streets and people didn't dive for cover? Or is that what you wanted innocent people to do all along?"

Cyborg scowled at him. He was passing by Terrific, who was still hard at work. Considering the amount of flashing light from the computer screen and the sound of keys tapping, Ollie was sure he would've looked in the guy's direction, but never did.

"What would you know about that? Oh wait, it's because people do that to you. Hmm, I wonder why? Could it be because you're a criminal?" the mechanical man challenged.

"No, pretty sure it's you," the archer shot back. "I mean, why else would someone like you spend all of their time on an orbiting space station then hole themselves in a place like this?"

Cyborg tsked. "If you came here to preach at me, don't bother. I know I'm on the right sight. So does everyone else. You're the only one with the problem, Queen, and it looks like I'll be the one to set you straight."

In an instant, Ollie had his hand by his quiver. In that same instant, Cyborg had transformed his arm into his infamous blaster and had it pointed right at him. As he drew his arrow, the green-clad man dove to a side, going into a roll from his shoulders down the side of his body and onto his feet. By then, Cyborg had fired his attack, the blast flying right by where he had once stood.

In an instant, Ollie had his bow notched, pulled back on the drawstring, and then let his arrow go flying towards Cyborg. The arrow hit its target right on the shoulder, then promptly bounced off, spinning end-over-end harmlessly through the air until it clattered on the floor.

Cyborg stared at him, then turned his head to look at the discarded arrow, then returned to gaze to the archer. "Is that the best you—"

He was stopped in mid-remark by a large boxing gloving ramming into his face, the force of which stunned him verbally and caused him to stumble back a step. Ollie had been hoping to get a shot like this, Cyborg leaving himself completely open, but he hadn't expected it this early in the fight. As he pulled out another arrow, he purposefully ignored the suction cup at its tip. Yeah, even he had to admit it looked pretty silly. Notching it to his bow, he fired it, watching it fly through the air until it hit Cyborg dead center.

A second later and Cyborg shook off his daze. He had a scowl on his face and opened his mouth to say something, only to stop when he caught sight of the arrow shaft sticking out in front of him, and then the suction cup. He looked up at the Emerald Archer. "You can't be serious," he said incredulously.

A smirk appeared on Ollie's face. ""fraid so." Then he flicked a small switch on the top of his bow's handle.

Immediately, bolts of electricity danced all over the mechanical man's body, Cyborg screaming from the pain. Though it looked like a toy arrow, that was the point of it. No one would expect ten thousand watts of electricity to be stored in such an arrow and Cyborg was finding that out in the worst of ways.

Unable to stay on his feet, the man fell to the floor, his mechanical body spasming as he laid there. He hadn't stopped screaming and in fact, his voice sounded distorted, like some speech program was going fuzzy.

Reaching to his quiver, Ollie pulled out an ordinary arrow and notched it as he walked towards Cyborg. Standing next to the electrically-paralyzed man, he then took aim with his arrow and stared. He stayed silent as he watched the guy slowly move one of his spasming arms up so that his hand could grab onto the arrow. Then with a yank, he pulled the arrow off and threw it aside, ending the constant shocking.

A moment later and Ollie stomped a foot onto Cyborg's chest, moving to hover his drawn arrow above his head. "Just so you know, you're not the first to fall for that arrow," he told him, watching as Cyborg slowly pushed aside his pain and fatigue and glared up at him. "Hope that makes you feel better."

"You better hope that arrow strikes me dead, Queen," the cyborg warned him. "Cause the moment it doesn't, Imma break every damn bone in your body."

"Threats? At this stage of our relationship? Tsk, tsk, Cyborg, you're so much better that." Ollie paused. "Actually, no, you're not. In case you haven't noticed, I've got an arrow pointed right at your more sensitive areas—meaning your very human face and even more human eye. You don't have to be the greatest archer in the world to hit that target at this range."

"I have and you just just missed your best shot."

The Emerald Archer didn't have very long to ponder what Cyborg meant by that. The next thing he knew, some sort of jet booster or something attached to the man's back turned on and Cyborg blasted up off the floor. This sudden change caused Ollie to tip backwards, his balance thrown off as Cyborg moved from a lying position to a standing one. He even lost his grip on his arrow and sent it flying up into the ceiling, where it pierced into the roof.

That was when Cyborg grabbed the foot that was starting to leave his chest at the ankle, due to Ollie falling backwards and onto his ass. Before he fell much further, the mechanical man twisted his own body, pulling Ollie with him. Pivoting on his heels, he spun the green-clad man in a circle before arcing him up into the air, where he then swung the blond man down onto the floor. The force of the impact knocked the air out of Ollie's lungs, but he didn't have the luxury of lying there to catch his breath. Before he had the time to gasp, he was yanked back to a side, lifting off the floor as Cyborg spun him in the opposite direction this time, only this time he let go of his hold and sent the archer flying through the air until he landed on the floor again, bouncing a couple of times before rolling across the ground until he came to a stop.

Ow...ow...and ow…

Gasping for air, Ollie laid there for a moment before he began forcing himself up onto his hands and knees. Turning his head, he saw Cyborg aiming his blaster cannon at him. "That's right, get up. Give me a reason to blow you away."

"Whoever said you needed a reason?" Ollie replied weakly, moving until he had his legs beneath him, but remained crouched. "Last I checked, you killed people for the hell of it. Or was there a memo that changed that?"

Cyborg scowled and that was all Ollie needed to know that the mechanical man would fire. Springing to a side, he took off running, just as his opponent fired his yellow blast. Following the archer, Cyborg fired blast after blast, trying to hit the blond man as each beam flew behind him, hitting the wall where they exploded.

Though this was keeping him alive, Ollie knew the moment he ran out of room to run, he'd get creamed by the energy blasts. He had to act before that time came. For a moment, he glanced to the computer panel to see how close Mr. Terrific was to completing whatever he was trying to do.

Only to see that Terrific was nowhere in sight.

 _What the…?_

That was when he heard two voices cry out. Skidding to a stop, Ollie twisted himself around enough to see Mr. Terrific holding a crowbar in his hands, said crowbar having been used to hit Cyborg right in the hinge of his elbow joint. This had caused the cyborg's blaster to point up at the ceiling, though thankfully he wasn't firing anything to cause the ceiling to come falling down on them.

Pulling back the crowbar, Terrific then swung it low and hit it against the back of Cyborg's knee, causing it to buckle as said knee dropped to the ground. Drawing the crowbar back, he then slammed it against the back of the mechanical man's head, causing him to collapse to the floor.

So that's where he went.

Stepping away, Terrific held his crowbar tightly in his hands—no telling where he found it, but Ollie wasn't one to ask questions when it came to things that saved his bacon. Unfortunately, his little beat down on Cyborg didn't finish the man as he grunted, pushing himself up as he tilted his head towards the hacker. "Where the hell did you come from?" he demanded.

Okay, now that was stupid. How had Cyborg not seen Terrific at the computer panel? He wasn't invisible or anything. The green-clad archer had figured the cyborg had just been ignoring him, but his words here seemed to point to him not even noticing.

As Cyborg stared at Terrific, he seemed to frown at the T-faced man. "What's going on here?" he pressed as he began to raise up, standing on his knees. "Why can I only see you—"

Seeing as Cyborg's attention was only on Terrific, Ollie saw that as a chance to close the distance between them. Running, he drew his bow back and swung it at the last second, slamming the bow against Cyborg's back. The man cried out as he fought to keep his balance, somehow keeping his upper body up. Having run passed his opponent, Ollie spun in a circle, using his momentum to his advantage, before lashing out with a foot, delivering a kick to the mechanical man's face, dropping him back to the floor.

Seeing his opponent lying down, Ollie then raised his bow above his head, fully intent on bashing it against the back of the man's skull. His plan, however, was thwarted when Cyborg recovered faster than anticipated. Rolling onto his side, he pointed his blaster hand at the archer, except, it wasn't a blaster, but some other sort of weapon. The blond man found out a moment later when the air before the barrel wavered and an unseen force suddenly blew Ollie backwards through the air. He managed to land back on his feet a short distance away, but skidded a couple more feet before he came to a stop.

Cyborg then swung his bizarre weapon away from the archer, this time pointing it right at Mr. Terrific. The same distorted air appeared and Terrific went flying backwards as well, his back slamming against the wall behind him.

"Queen, I've called you a lot of things over the years," Cyborg declared before looking to glare at him. "But none of them was yellow. Mind telling me where you've been hiding this friend of yours?"

"What can I say, I like to surprise people," he shrugged.

"Surprise, huh? Well, it won't work. I don't know what tricks you're pulling, but he ain't gonna help you."

" _Arrow,"_ Mr. Terrific's voice came over the Emerald Archer's comm link then. " _Can you read me?"_

"Loud and clear," he muttered back. "What's up?"

" _Think you can keep this guy distracted? I think I got something that can take him down."_

Well, that was welcomed news. "One distraction coming right up. Just keep your eyes and ears covered."

Pulling out a trick arrow, he notched it to his bow and took aim. "Hey, Cyborg!" he called out, keeping the mechanical man's attention on him. "Remember how easy I could've put your eye out earlier? Let's see if I can do it from this range."

He then released the arrow, mentally counting the seconds in his head. In response, Cyborg took a step to a side to avoid the arrow, the projectile passing right by his head.

Or it would have had the timer not gone off. As Cyborg kept his eyes on the arrow to make sure he successfully dodge it, the canister towards the tip of the arrow detonated, unleashing a blinding flash and an ear-splitting thunder. That's right, it was a flashbang arrow.

And Cyborg was staring right into it.

"Ahhhhhhh!" he cried out as he covered his human eye with one hand, not bothering to do the same with his robotic one. "Damn it, Queen! What do you think you're trying to do?!" The cyborg spun back around to glare at him with his mechanical eye. "You think some flashbang grenade is going to beat me? My cybernetic parts can see through the flash."

Well, that was unexpected. It seemed he'd have to blind ol' Cyborg the old fashioned way. At least, he would've tried had Cyborg not suddenly seized up.

It was almost comical how the guy spewing threats at him suddenly went straight as a board before falling onto his back. Standing behind and to a side was Mr. Terrific looking dispassionately at the fallen cyborg.

Relaxing, Ollie began walking towards the two. "What did you do to him?" he asked as he came to stand next to Terrific.

"I cut off the connect between his cybernetic parts and his organic self. His life support systems are running, but he has no access to the communication network or his weapon systems."

Ollie stared at the man. "Uhh, why didn't you use that earlier?"

"Well, he was trying to blast you to kingdom come. I could've let him do that and then attach the external hard drive."

Okay, that was a fair point. "What external hard drive?"

"It's something Batman and I had been working on. You saw the specs in the car, remember? I was uploading it to the computer terminal during your fight with Cyborg—thankfully the codes we needed to get access to Cyborg where in there. Once I had it programed in, I just needed to attach it to Cyborg and voila."

Heh, it seemed Batwoman was right about Bats. Good girl. "I'm actually impressed that you did all of that with Cyborg in the room." He frowned. "Funny thing, he seemed to act like he didn't see you in the beginning."

"Probably because he couldn't. It's my superpower."

Ollie blinked his eyes owlishly. Superpower? Since when? Seeing the look on his face, Terrific seemed to know what he was thinking and supplied him the answer to his unspoken question. "I can't be seen by machines."

"But I watched you hack the security here. If you can't be seen, then why did—"

"There are other instruments," Terrific pointed out as he interrupted. "Pressure plates, laser beams, they'll detect changes, such as my body weight, or the fact the light beam has been broken. They won't get a visual of me though. Take Cyborg for instance; he couldn't see me with his cybernetic eye, but he could with his human one. That's why he was surprised—he didn't look at me with his human one until I jumped in."

And that explained a lot. "Well, good to know," he surmised before he raised his hand to his ear. "Hey, everyone, Cyborg is down. Time to kick some Regime ass."

Lowering his hand, he then looked to Terrific. "So how long is this thing supposed to last?"

"Theoretically, as long as I want it too. But considering this is a human being living in a cybernetic world, he could possibly get around my program. He's probably working on that right now. We're gonna have to—"

Before he could finish that sentence, a door previously never opened by them or Cyborg opened. Jerking their heads to it, the form of a man in head to toe red and wearing a blue cape appeared in the doorway. Yellow markings formed a T on his chest and a down arrow on his forehead, these two designs being the most prominent.

"Uhh, Terrific?" Ollie asked.

"Yeah?" the man responded.

"Any idea what that is?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like the description of the Tornado Project weapon."

Oh, great, the very thing they had come here to stop was already made. Well that was just perfect. It wasn't like they had anything else better to do.

* * *

It had finally come. They had waited and waited and at long last, the Hall of Justice was unguarded. First, Diana had come rushing out, pausing long enough to address someone at the door before flying off for the Atlantic. Shortly after, Shazam revealed himself and flew off to the west. It was unknown why he had done this, but what was certain was that Superman was all alone, save for whatever security surrounded him.

They wouldn't stand a chance against Batman and Batwoman.

A short time after that, they got the call from Queen. " _Hey, everyone, Cyborg is down. Time to kick some Regime ass."_

That was all they needed to know. Shoving his binoculars into his belt, Batman stood up, Batwoman following his example shortly after. "You have a glider mode, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, I—" she began to answer him.

She said something more, but the dark-clad man didn't listen further than "Yeah." Leaping off the edge of the roof, he activated the electric current in his gauntlet and grabbed his cape. Immediately, the cloth stiffened, allowing him to soar through the air towards the Hall of Justice. The distance between him and the building shrunk rapidly until he was within a few feet of the door. Releasing his grip, the cap slackened and Batman dropped to the ground, all the while keeping up his momentum. The moment his feet touched the concrete, he ran to keep pace with his speed before slowing down, coming to a stop by the door.

Behind him, Batwoman landed much like he had, coming to stand at his side. "Ready?" he asked.

"All of my life," she replied.

Opening the door, the two entered a small lobby, vacant of guards. That was alright though, their presence would be detected fairly shortly.

For now, they would just see what kind of response time these guards have. If they were lucky, the guards wouldn't get in their way until they reached Superman. Batman had to hold in a snort at that thought. No way would this be _that_ easy.

* * *

The bright light slowly gave way to a place Jaime had only read about in books, but never thought he'd see. There was a dome overhead, the glass showing a dark world beyond it. Within the dome, ancient architecture from a bygone era was everywhere.

This was Atlantis, formerly lost until Aquaman was revealed to the world. No one from what the guy called "The Surface World" had been allowed to walk these halls, at least if you didn't include the guys in the Regime. Jaime knew for a fact that Superman had been here for some sort of treaty ceremony, but no video footage had been allowed, nor anyone aside from Superman and his Regime had set foot here.

Which made Jaime and Dr. Fate the first two people allowed here without permission.

The youth paused at this fact. Holy crap, they were here without permission. Oh God, oh crap, this was a bad idea.

"Be still, Jaime," Dr. Fate ordered him, his creepy, hollow voice not really comforting the young man. Yeah, this doctor guy had managed to calm him at the Tower of Fate, but this was different. They weren't in a place that was strictly off limits. They were now.

"Are you sure it's alright for us to be here?" Jaime asked quickly, nervously looking around. "I mean, I'm pretty sure we weren't invited and if I heard right, the people here don't like uninvited guests."

"We are counting on this to happen," Dr. Fate told him calmly. "You do know why we are here."

"Well, yeah, but this is totally different. This isn't us talking about it, it's really happening!"

"Calm yourself. If you allow your doubts to overwhelm you, your fate will be sealed."

That caused him pause. "What do you mean seal my fate? Are you telling me it isn't?"

Dr. Fate turned to gaze at him. "Fate is written for most of those who have ever existed. There are, however, a handful of people who are not set in stone. You are one of those people, Jaime. It is up to you to take control of your fate and make it what you will. Do not let another write it for you."

Well, that was comforting, kind of. "So what are we supposed to do?" he asked nervously.

Suddenly, doors swung open and men in armor carrying weird-looking spears rushed in. They came primarily from two different sides, a nearby wall making sure the two weren't completely surrounded. The guards formed a semicircle in front of them, their spears pointed right at them, ready to impale them at any given time.

"Umm, Dr. Fate, Sir?" Jamie said weakly. "They have us surrounded."

"For now," the sorcerer replied. Then, a giant ankh glowed behind him as he began to float up into the air. The ankh grew brighter and brighter until the man disappeared within it. _"Good luck, Jaime. Remember, your destiny has not been yet written."_

"Wait! You're not staying?!"

There was no answer. Well, correction, the ankh faded away, leaving no trace of Dr. Fate anywhere, so if you consider that an answer, then that was it. Regardless, the youth found himself alone, with a lot of angry looking guards holding weapons that could do some serious damage.

Not for the first time did Jaime wonder if he made the right choice in joining the Insurgency.

"Kill the intruder!" one of the guards shouted, which caused the first row of men to step towards him, their spears jabbing threatening towards him. In response, Jaime yelped as he jumped backwards, holding up his arms in front of himself. Fear raced through his body as panic set in. Why was he here? Why him? He wasn't supposed to be here. Somebody! Anybody! Help!

Seeing another spear move towards him, he wished he had a shield to protect himself. It was then his front most arm changed, a large shield cover him from head to knee taking form. A moment later he felt several blows hit the shield, the force pushing him back until the heel of his back foot touched the wall. Over and over, he felt and heard the spears hitting his shield.

It was then Jaime realized that he had done that. It was almost unconscious, but he had done it. Or maybe the Scarab had done it because it sensed his will. Whatever it was, it reminded him that he had some alien war machine attached to him. In fact, this same war machine had blown a member of the Regime back and he had done so fearlessly. Then again, he had the rest of the Insurgency behind him so if he had messed up, they could've protected him. He was alone now.

Faintly, a voice that sounded like Batwoman's echoed in his head. _Quit holding yourself back. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. If you don't, I will break your legs._

Hmm, that first part had been comforting, right up until the threat. She had said that part during their too few training sessions. Yet, it gave the young man confidence and he was sorely in need of that right now.

Feeling the pressure of more spears hitting against his shield, he gritted his teeth before he called upon wings. Immediately, beetle wings unfolded from his back and began flapping rapidly. Shooting up into the air, Jaime found himself hovering high above the Atlantean guards, all of whom were looking up at him.

Alright, okay, he had changed things. Now to change them further.

Transforming his shield, he made his blaster cannon and gave out a shout, firing a blast of blue energy at the guards. Most jumped backwards or to a side to avoid the blast, but one of them took it right to the face, knocking him off of his feet as he fell to the ground, landing hard on his back as smoke wafted up from his head.

Oh yeah! Now that's what he was talking about! A smile appearing on his face, Jaime began firing more energy blasts, the blue beams burning through the air as they closed in on the guards.

Unfortunately, it seemed these guys weren't ones to let the same trick work twice. Instead of getting hit by Jaime's attacks, they began jumping out of the way, dodging, even diving to the floor and rolling onto their feet to avoid the beams. That caused the smile to fall from the young man's face. Long distance wasn't working and it was only a matter of time before these guys thought of something to get back at him.

He needed to change tactics.

Stopping his blasts, Jaime tried to think of something big, something hard, something blunt enough to hit these guys with. He really was grasping at straws since he wasn't quite sure what weapon to use. There were thoughts of a baseball bat, or a sledgehammer, but neither of them appealed.

Fortunately, it seemed the Scarab had an idea as his blaster began to change. The barrel of the blaster began to widen and become round, spikes jutting out all over the place. Before he knew it, his hand was now a mace.

Huh, that would work.

Going into a dive, Jaime dropped towards the guards, holding his mace hand at his side. He was flying right for one guard, even as a second moved to join him, both of whom were moving their spears to attack at him. Steeling his nerves, he waited until the guards jabbed at him with their weapons, jerking to a side to avoid them, and then swinging his mace.

The mace slammed into the rightmost guard's head, the force causing to snap his head to a side right before he crashed into his friend's side, knocking them both to the ground. Jaime felt his arm vibrating from the blow, but he ignored it as he swooped to a side, heading for another guard. Doing a backswing, his mace struck the guard before he had a chance to retaliate, sending him falling to the floor as well.

And then Jaime shot up into the air. It felt strange clubbing people with his mutated hand, but it was something he'd have to live with for now. Looking down, he saw the two men he had actually hit were definitely down and not getting back up. The one guard that was knocked down by his friend was trying to get back on his feet, shoving his friend's body off of him.

Which left him wide open. Holding out his other hand, he changed it into the blaster and fired immediately, the blue beam nailing the guy in the head. The blast knocked him back to the floor, his body not even twitching after being hit.

That was when a spear flew right by Jaime, causing him to yelp as he instinctively moved to a side. Looking down, he saw several of the guards changing their grips on their spears, looking to throw them right at him.

So that's how they wanted to play this.

Throwing both his mace hand and blaster above his head, he joined them together and reshaped them, a large mallet head forming. "Hey guys!" he shouted at them, right before dropping down towards them, "Say hello to my big friend!"

He swung the giant mallet down, crushing several of the guards beneath it. A couple managed to jump out of the way, but it vastly decreased the number left standing. By the time Jaime lifted his mallet up, he saw the crumpled forms of the guards he had smashed lying on the floor in various states of brokenness.

Alright! He was almost done here! Pulling his arms apart, he again formed his blasters, this time with both hands. Taking aim at the two remaining guards, he began firing several blasts rapidly. It was like he had a machine gun in each hand, only they fired lasers instead of bullets. The two guards did their best to avoid the first couple of shots, but they were soon getting hit by multiple blasts. They didn't collapse to the floor until Jaime stopped his firing.

Raising the blaster barrels to his face, Jaime blew on them like a western gunslinger. Oh yeah, he was definitely getting into the hang of this fighting thing. Who was next?

That was when one of the set of doors were flung open again. Dropping his arms to his side as he let his hand reform, Jaime saw a big man storming towards him. The blond guy only wore pants and he looked super pissed. In hand, he had a trident, which gleamed in the lighting.

"You dare intrude on my kingdom, surface-dweller?!" the man roared as he came to a stop before Jaime. He even raised up his trident and slammed the butt of the staff hard onto the floor, a loud clanging sound ringing out. Glancing to the floor, Jaime couldn't help but notice the small cracks that surrounded the end of the staff. "I'll chain you to the bottom of the sea and feed you to the sharks!"

"Ahoy matey to you!" Jaime responded, sounding a lot more confident than he actually felt. In fact, that greeting sounded kind of lame to him now that he thought about it. Geez, what a way to make a first impression.

The blond man scowled at him. "Who are you, surface-dweller? Speak your name so I know what to put on your tombstone."

The way this guy made orders of him, Jaime couldn't help but want to obey. Yet, he could feel a sense of unease, which wasn't coming from him. In fact, he was sure it was the Scarab that felt this way. At least that made two of them. That only made him not want to give this Atlantean his name.

Still, he had to say something; that was how he was raised after all. Since he couldn't give his real name, he needed to come up with a code name, like Element Woman had.

Unfortunately, that's where he had a problem. See, he wasn't that creative to begin with. He wasn't going to be able to come up with something badass like Batman or Batwoman, or even one as cheerful as Green Arrow. He hadn't even thought of a name since the Scarab attached itself to him. Hey, maybe he should go with the Scarab! That sounded good!

Before he could say anything, the Scarab let him know that name was not going to fly. Huh, he didn't know this thing could express disapproval. Well then, what would it like instead? It wasn't like he could go by...what was that Ted Kord's code name? Blue Beetle?

Suddenly, he felt approval in his head. Huh. Jaime wasn't sure how to feel about that. Still, it was a name at least someone liked and seeing as he didn't have all that much time to come up with another, he might as well use it.

"The name's Blue Beetle," he said, straightening out his posture. "And who are you supposed to be?"

The blond man didn't change his expression. "Blue Beetle is it? Very well then; prepare yourself! Before you stands the King of Atlantis! In my hand is the Trident of Poseidon and I swear to you that I will impale you on its blades before the currents change."

Oh...my...God...this was Aquaman! This was the real deal Aquaman! Oh shit, oh boy.

Jaime...no, Blue Beetle shook himself. Now wasn't the time to rattle himself. He had just found his confidence again, he wasn't about to lose it now. Tilting his head back, he replied, "I'd like to see you try, old man."

Upon seeing the look on Aquaman's face, he wasn't sure if that was the right, or wrong thing to say.

* * *

To Guest: Here's the Atlantis battle you wanted. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far.


	33. Invading The Hall

It was inevitable the black-clad guards would come rushing at them. It was assumed they were dosed on the super pills, cocky, and ready for action. They were stronger, more durable, had increased stamina, and just about everything going for them.

They found out rather quickly that all of those factors didn't prevent pain from a hyper-extended arm.

The first guard found that out the moment he threw a punch at Batman's head. Dodging to a side, the Dark Knight shot both of his hands up, one grabbing the man's wrist while the other pushed right into the arm's socket. As he pulled back on the wrist and hyper-extended the arm, the guard cried out as he undoubtedly felt a burning sensation running through his shoulder.

Pivoting, Batman forced the man to run around in a circle as he spun in place, only letting go when the guard came face-to-face with his comrades. The guard stumbled towards them, which caused the rest to slow their charge.

Flying right by Batman's side was Batwoman, the vigilante leaping into the air and extending a leg out, landing a flying kick to the back of the stumbling guard's head. This sent him lunging head first into the stomach of another guard, who tried to catch his friend.

Only for two bat-shaped shuriken to hit his helmet, along with the helmets of the man he was holding and the guard next to him. The sharp ends stuck in the helmets, causing them to pause.

Then electricity blasted out of each shuriken, delivering a powerful shock to each of them. As their bodies spasmed and they screamed, Batwoman had moved onto the next guards. Seeing the man swinging a club at her, she slid to a stop as she leaned backwards, avoiding the swing. At the same time she raised one of her feet and kicked out with it, her heel ramming right into the man's groin. A sharp gasp came from the guard as he bent over, Batwoman leaning back up so that she could slam the palm of her hand as hard as she could into his face.

As that man stumbled back into the wall of the hallway they were in, Batman leaped over the three electrified guards, all of whom were crumbling to the floor. Landing before two more guards, the dark-clad man dropped to a knee, arms cross over his chest. The moment his knee touched the floor, he swung both arms out, the back of his fists colliding with the sides of the men's knees, causing them to twist into an awkward angle and ultimately buckle.

As the two guards dropped to one of their knees as well, Batman pulled his arms back, holding them at shoulder height, bent at the elbow. He then lashed out with them, slamming his fists right into their throats, causing twin gagging sounds to come from the men as they grabbed at their necks. Hands moving to the sides of their heads, he then cracked their helmeted skulls together, letting them fall to the floor.

Batwoman then shot passed him again, throwing her own bat-shaped shuriken. Much like the ones he had thrown earlier, these shuriken embedded themselves onto the armor or helmets of their targets before sending out a powerful jolt of electricity.

"How are they doing this?!" one of the remaining guards cried out, the remaining three shuffling backwards.

"You really want to know?" Batwoman asked as she stalked towards them. One of the guards swallowed his cowardice before lunging at the redhead, swinging a club at her. Ducking the swing, she then spun into the guard, her back pressing up against his chest as her hands grabbed onto his arm. Once she was sure she had a good grip on him, she let go with one hand and balled it into a fist, jerking that arm back so that her elbow slammed right into the lens of the helmet behind her. The glass cracked from the blow, but didn't shatter, though that wasn't needed as the guard's head jerked backwards from the force he was hit with.

This also caused him to lose his grip on his club, which Batwoman snatched out with her other hand, completely releasing the guard. Dropping down, she spun on the heel of her boots and swung the club, nailing the man against the side of his knee. She hit him so hard in fact that she knocked both legs out from under the guard, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap.

"No matter how strong you are," she said as she shot back up onto her feet, just in time to meet the next charging guard. She blocked the man's swing of his own club with the one she held, the metal rods clanging against each other. "The human body has limits," she continued as she let go of her club, shooting the palm of one hand out to slam it against the man's throat. Her other hand followed that paralyzing blow with a punch to the solar plexus, which rendered the guard breathless. "Joints, eyes, groin, they're all still viable weak points."

Leaping up into the air, she then lashed out with a leg, delivering a powerful sidekick that sent the man crashing up against the wall head first, leaving one last guard still standing. The moment she landed, she finished, "But for someone who only values power and strength, you wouldn't know anything about that."

That was when Batman flew by the woman, the guard starting to scream as the Dark Knight charged at him, cape spread out wide behind him. Leaping forward, Batman passed next to the screaming guard as his hand latched onto the man's face. Using his momentum, he pushed and shoved the man backwards and down, ramming the back of his head against the floor as hard as he could. The guard's legs shot up into the air, where they spasmed before falling back to the ground.

"You forgot to mention concussions," the vigilante observed as he stood back onto his feet.

There was a smirk on Batwoman's face. "Why bother when you were going to show him?"

He returned the smile. "Touche."

Seeing as they were alone now, they began walking down the hallway until they were forced to stop at an intersecting corridor, one that gave them a choice of a left turn or a right. "So, which way?" Batwoman asked as she looked down both paths.

That was when both corridors were suddenly flooded with guards, a door down the left hall opening while the right had the men flying around a corner at the end of the hallway. "We'll have to figure that out in a bit," Batman said as he faced the guards charging from the right, shifting himself into a defensive stance.

Behind him, he felt Batwoman faintly press her back into his, no doubt facing the men from the left. "I bet I can take all of my guards out before you do," she challenged.

"You're on."

* * *

Shazam had left the city limits of Neo-Metropolis a long time ago. Yet, the moment he had, a sinking feeling at filled his stomach.

He blamed it on Solomon's Wisdom. He could sense something was up. First there were the Rogues rising up in Neo-Central City after a long hiatus, then Themyscira was under attack. It had been a long time since he had heard from Cyborg, not to mention the lack of communication between them and Enchantress and Aquaman.

Something was up, he could feel it.

Slowing his pace, Shazam began to float in midair. Why were all of these things happening and now? The sudden activity of the criminals and Insurgency had picked up right around the time this Batman fellow returned, so logically all of this stemmed from him. He had made his knowledge of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl quite apparent at the Bat Underground headquarters.

Was it possible he was using that knowledge even now?

But what would be the purpose? Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were usually the first responders of the Regime, so them getting into a fight was no big surprise. Having someone take them on to the point of requiring assistance was new, though.

Cyborg, on the other hand, was in Motor City, which was very different considering he was normally on the Watchtower, which was no more. They were having to adjust to the change in the location of their communication hub, which made them more vulnerable.

Wait a minute, Neo-Central City, Motor City, and Themyscira. All of these places had Regime members either present or heading to. That was a long ways off from Neo-Metropolis, where Superman was. Shazam would've added Wonder Woman's presence except—

His eyes widened. Why hadn't he seen this before? They were being purposefully spread out. Spinning back around, Shazam went flying as fast as he could back to Neo-Metropolis. Superman was all alone, and while he had utmost confidence the man could hold his own—Wonder Woman had given him explicit instructions not to leave his side. Now he knew why.

"Don't worry, Superman," he muttered to himself as the wind screamed in his ears and buffeted against his body, "Shazam is on his way."

* * *

Assassins and Amazons danced around each other, bobbing and waving, ducking, jumping, slicing, stabbing, and blocking each other. The sound of metal clashing against metal filled the air as sword struck blade and shield alike. Sand was kicked up with every step, every jump, and every fallen combatant.

As Ra's al Ghul strode through the chaos, he watched as an Amazon ran through one of his assassins with a spear, holding her weapon in his body as she watched the light in his eyes fade away. Satisfied, she yanked the spear out, allowing the corpse to fall to the sand. Turning, she spotted him strolling towards her and turned to fully face him. Holding her shield in front of her as she drew her spear back, its tip hovering by the edge of her shield, she then charged at him.

Ra's came to a stop, standing his ground as the Amazon rushed towards him. He waited until the last moment when the warrior thrust her spear at him, the older man pivoting on his heels to dodge, the side of his body facing his foe.

Yet, he didn't stop there. He continued to spin, raising his sword up to shoulder height. He fully expected to Amazon to try and strike him with her shield, a maneuver he had seen many of her brethren try on him to little success. Increasing his circular momentum to avoid the hit, he drop down as he lashed out with his sword, the blade biting into the woman's calf. The Amazon cried out as she dropped to one knee, releasing her spear so that she could grip her wounded leg.

Without missing a beat, Ra's rose up as he continued his spin, cutting through the air with his sword until it came into contact with the woman's neck, slicing her head off with one stroke. Her headless body collapsed to the sand as blood poured out of her neck.

As exhilarating as this fight had been, the Demon's Head was growing bored. He could practically see the first, second, and third moves his Amazon foes would do, allowing him to counteract long before they actually attacked. He had yet to defend himself be it with a shield or sword. If these were the fabled warriors of the ancient world, their legend far outpaced their skills.

Again, he began walking, pacing by another Amazon in mid-struggle with an assassin. Without skipping a beat, he raised his sword, flipped it around in his hand so that the blade pointed outwards rather than in, and drove the tip into the Amazon's back. The woman stiffened where she stood as his sword broke through her chest. Then he cleanly drew the blade out, the woman dropping to the ground, where the assassin made one final cut to her throat to ensure her demise.

That's when he saw her. A redheaded Amazon flew into his view, beating aside an assassin's sword with her shield and driving her spear into his chest. The spear's tip burst out the man's back, which allowed the Amazon to back up a step so that she could heave the man's body up into the air. Swinging her spear above her head and then down, she slammed the corpse onto the ground, which also withdrew her weapon from the bloody body.

Whirling around, she swung the spear, just in time for the tip to sliced into not one, not two, but three assassin's bodies, much like a sword with greater reach. Each man cried out as they twisted around awkwardly from the strike, falling down shortly after.

 _Hmm, this one holds promise…_

If he wasn't mistaken, this was the same Amazon that had demanded his withdrawal from the beachhead. Striding towards her, Ra's flipped his sword back into its usual position, clutching tightly at the handle. An Amazon leaped in front of him, facing towards something to his right. He didn't bother looking as he reached out with his free hand and grabbed the wrist of her spear arm. Pulling it to a side, he then ran his sword through her open chest, her eyes bulging in pain and surprise right before he shoved her away, pulling his sword out all at once.

This caught the redhead's attention and he could see the murderous look she aimed towards him. Squaring herself off as she faced him, she then began marching towards him, the distance between the two shrinking with every step they took.

There was no salute between them, no acknowledgement of the other's presence and skill. Ra's only offered such regard to opponents he respected; he could read in her body language that the Amazon neither respected nor deigned to acknowledge him. That was perhaps forgivable in the middle of a battle, but he suspected it came from her disdain for men most of all.

Then, the red-haired woman lunged at him, leaping high into the air as she drew her spear back, thrusting forward as she descended towards him. Leaping to his left, he dodged the spear as it impaled the sand where he once stood. Again, he went into a spin, lashing out with his sword to slash her in the back.

Except, the Amazon used her forward momentum to go into a roll after her missed strike, dodging his sword stroke as she rolled down her back and ended up on her feet, her weapon pulling out of the ground as she did this so that its tip pointed up to the sky.

Then the spear was turned to hover horizontal to the ground right before the Amazon swung it through the air, attempting to use the longer reach to cut at him. Ra's parried the blow with his sword, letting out a yell as he lunged forward to strike at her head. Easily, the Amazon moved her spear up, blocking his sword with the shaft of her weapon. Forcing both of their weapons up, she then swung her shield arm across her body, attempting to ram its edge against the older man's body. In response, he leaped backwards to avoid it, incidentally putting some space between them.

The Amazon then assumed the traditional Greek fighting stance, her shield held in front of her as she drew her spear back, much like her fellow warrior, the one of many he had slain. In response, Ra's raised his free hand and drew his second sword. "You are skilled, Amazon," he complimented.

"And you are lacking," she responded, shifting her feet for better footing.

He narrowed his eyes. "What do I call you, Amazon?"

"I give my name to no man."

"So be it, nameless one. I have killed many a warrior since I first took up the sword and most I have forgotten. You shall be no exception."

The woman's nostrils flared with rage, just before she lunged towards him. Predictably, she thrust her spear towards Ra's, who dodged to his left. He shot his swords up, one clashing up against the blade of the spear to block it as the other collided with the shaft to reinforce the block. However, instead of going into a spin like he had done previously, he slid his sword down the spear's shaft, metal scraping against metal until his weapon's edge met with the Amazon's arm. With a quick jerk, his sword bit into her flesh, leaving a long red mark in its wake. Blood began to dribble out of the wound as the woman backed a step away, hissing from the sting she must have felt.

Yet, Ra's did not let up. Pressing his advantage, he raised one of his swords above his head, and swung it down towards the Amazon's head. In response, she shifted her shield up to block the blow, the sword clashing against it. Undeterred, Ra's swung his other sword much like the first, raising and dropping sword strike after sword strike, hammering away at the shield. The Amazon shifted to a side so that her spear arm was the further side away from the man, allowing her to keep cover behind her shield.

Just as he wanted.

Without warning, Ra's raised one of his feet and stomped it on the side of the Amazon's knee, causing it to buckle and twist at an odd angle. She grunted from the pain she must have felt, but it was nothing in comparison to what Ra's did next. With the red-haired woman dropping down to a knee, she incidentally exposed her upper body to the Demon's Head. Raising his right arm up, holding his sword horizontal to the ground, he thrust with it right into her exposed shoulder, eliciting a wild scream from the Amazon. Ra's even gave his sword a slight twist, which caused the woman to hiss as she tried to suppress further signs of weakness.

The entire time, Ra's gazed stoically. It seemed no matter how many Amazons he faced, they fell just as quickly as the last. Truly, he was disappointed. Stepping back, he pulled his sword out and stood a few paces away, watching his opponent attempt to catch her breath. "It seems I overestimated you," he remarked after some time.

The Amazon continued to breath until it slowly began to steady. "Artemis," she said after a moment.

Ra's frowned. "Pardon?"

"You asked for my name. It is Artemis."

"Why tell this to me now?"

She looked to him with a scowl. "It will be the last name you will ever hear. I vow in the name of the Hera, Athena, and Artemis that you will lay bloody and broken at my feet, Man."

"Then your Gods will be sorely disappointed," he stated. "Fear not, I will offer them your corpse in my stead."

Artemis stared at him before she shrugged off his shield, allowing it to drop onto the ground. Tossing aside her spear as she stood up, she then reached to a sword hilt at her waist and drew it, holding it with her good arm. She turned to a side, raising her sword arm up so that she could point its tip towards him. "Let's see just how good you are with your sword," she challenged.

Ra's shifted into his own stance, holding one out and across his body while the other extended forward from his hip. "I was the Master of Arms for Kublai Khan. The Safavid Dynasty of the Persian Empire feared the very whisper of name. My tactical genius was the cause of Wellington's rout of Napoleon at Waterloo. I assure you, Amazon, my skill is without peer."

Though Ra's was rarely inclined to boast about his abilities, he knew from the Detective's original report on the Amazonian Princess of her intolerance for misogyny and short temper. He was anticipating most, if not all, Amazons shared the same view. The look on Artemis' face told him this assumption was indeed correct. Already she had one foot in the grave.

It was time to push her the rest of the way in.

Artemis lunged at him, swinging her sword for his head, an attack he deftly blocked with his forward-most blade. This left an opening for a thrust directly into her heart, yet, Ra's held back. Instead he shuffled his feet backwards, watching his red-haired opponent pull her sword back before she swung at him again, going for his hip. This time he moved his backmost sword, and blocked the blow.

Suddenly, Artemis spun around, swinging her sword from the opposite direction. Ra's ducked the swing, stepping back again rather than attacking. As the Amazon completed her spin, her feet skidded across the sand as she fought for surer footing; regardless, this didn't stop her from arcing her blade high above her head, and then bringing it down in an attempt to split the older man's skull.

This time, Ra's blocked, raising both blades and crossing them, forming an X with them. Artemis' sword collided right where they intersected, the Demon's Head feeling a strong jolt go through his arms that caused him to crouch down. The force of that strike had been more powerful than he had expected, but then this was an Amazon. They had far greater strength than a normal man. It seemed Artemis was starting to use hers to her advantage.

For a moment, Ra's struggled to hold off Artemis' sword. It was in that moment that the red-haired woman suddenly closed in on him, swinging the fist of her injured arm at him. Unable to react, he took a punch to his face, which caused him to momentarily fly backwards through the air. His boots faintly slid over the sandy beach until he finally fully touched down, skidding to a stop. A tickling sensation from his lip told him blood was leaking from a cut there.

How _dare_ she draw his noble blood…

Artemis was running at him again, leaping into the air as she drew her sword back. As she reached the apex of her jump, she thrust her blade towards him, making use of her momentum to power her thrust.

Ra's danced to a side as he avoided the attack, holding one sword up to block should the Amazon attempt a side swipe. It turned out that's exactly what she did as the blade rotated before slicing towards him, their weapons colliding with each other.

In an instant, Ra's swung his other sword up, the blade cutting right into Artemis' wrist. Blood instantly sprayed out as he hit an artery, causing the woman to drop her sword as she immediately grabbed at her wound to stop it from bleeding her dry.

Sliding to stand in front of her, Ra's swung his arms out and then brought them down to his sides, pausing for a moment just before he drove both of his swords right into her chest, running her through. A strangled gasp escaped Artemis' lips as her eyes widened, her skin quickly paling.

"This is the end of you," Ra's told her, leaning his head closer to her face. "Take solace in the fact that you drew blood from me, Amazon. No other woman has been able to accomplish such a feat. For that, you pay with your life. Though skilled as you are, I am your superior in every facet."

The Demon's Head then pulled one of his swords out of Artemis' body, causing her to hiss in pain. He held it up by his face, the point hovering before her throat. "Fare thee well in your next life."

And then he drove the sword through her neck, effectively ending the Amazon.

It took two jerks to remove his swords from the dead woman, which allowed her to collapse to the ground. With a flick of each wrist, blood that clung to the sharpened metal flew off, decorating the sand in red strips.

Suddenly, something landed a short distance away, kicking up a cloud of sand and sending it in all directions. Ra's immediately shielded his eyes with a forearm, waiting for his vision to clear. He hadn't heard the tell-tale whistling of a cannonball, so he highly doubted one had landed before him. The Amazons lacked any sophisticated weaponry that would've caused such a phenomenon as well.

That left only one thing.

As the cloud dissipated, he saw a woman come into view. Ra's eyes narrowed as he saw the long dark hair, furious blue eyes, and the red, blue, and yellow uniform.

"Princess Diana," he greeted coldly. "Welcome to your doom."

* * *

There were a set of doors up ahead. Between them and Batwoman: guards. She didn't know what was on the other side of those doors, but it was going to take more than some drugged up goons to stop her.

At some point, the Regime's guards had retrieved taser rods and had attempted to use them against her and Batman. They were very much like escrima sticks with electrified tips. Honestly, it reminded her of Dick Grayson's escrima sticks. It wouldn't have surprise her if they had modeled these off of those. However, while she was sure Grayson had kept the power of his weapons to stun, these were cranked right up to flesh-charring.

The first mistake made was that these men had pulled these weapons outs. To think they could wield them in a manner that would stop her was ludicrous. Men that learned fighting tactics from a guidebook drawn up by meta-humans was laughable to a martial artist trained since birth to know seventeen different kill strikes at a moment's notice.

Their second mistake was letting her get her hands on them.

Batwoman had a taser rod in each hand and wielded them expertly. As a guard rushed her, his own rod drawn back and ready to strike her. She waited for the swing, shooting up one of her own rods to block it, the two weapons bashing up against each other.

In an instant, she lashed out with her other taser rod. Ramming the end right into the man's stomach, an electrical discharge blasted through the armor, causing her opponent to flinch back a step. In the next second, the rod she used to block shot down, landing in the space between the shoulder and neck, causing the man to spasm from the blow.

Pulling back the rod in this guy's stomach, Batwoman sung it out to a side, bringing it up so that she could cross it in front of her and nail him in the side of his head. Though the helmet would protect from the discharge, the hit would leave him stunned. Dropping to a knee, she then clubbed the side of the guard's knee, causing it to buckle as he too dropped to a knee, or at least he would have if she let him. As he dropped, she swung her other rod upward, landing an uppercut to his chin, which caused his head to snap backwards, throwing him off balance, and ultimately falling to land on his back. Rotating a rod in her hand so that she held it upside down, Batwoman slammed the electrified end into his stomach again and held it there, forcing as far down as she could, all the while the guard spasmed until smoke wafted up from his body.

The moment she saw that, Batwoman was back on her feet, seeing a couple more guards keeping their distance from her. That probably had to do with how she had dispatched their comrade. It might also had something to do with the multiple unconscious bodies lying scattered down the hall behind her and Batman. It was probably both.

As she approached them, one of them gathered up the courage to charge at her. She slowed to a stop, waiting for the guard to reach her. As the man drew his rod up by the side of his head before swinging it at her, she waited until the last moment before she leaned to a side, dodging the hit. In an instant she held both of her rods to the side furthest from the guard. She then swung them across her body, hitting the man in rapid succession. The first collided with the man's arm while the second nailed him right in the side of his helmet.

As the stunned man stumbled to a side, Batwoman pivoted on her heels, allowing her to spin around so that she could strike once more. She went lower this time, both of the rods hitting the guard in his side one after the other. The electric shock each hit delivered caused the man to crumble, ending up pressed against the nearby wall in an attempt to hold himself up.

Stopping her spin, Batwoman leaped forward, flying towards the dazed guard. Crossing her arms in front of her, she rammed them into the side of the man's head, which bashed the opposite side of his skull against the wall. As she bounced off of him, the man collapsed into a heap on the floor.

That left just one more guard left. Turning to face him, Batwoman stormed towards him, the man backing away from her as she approached. Suddenly, she raised one of her arms up by her head and then threw the rod she held at her opponent, the guard flinching back from it as he turned away. One end of the taser rod hit him on the back of his shoulder, the man grunting from the blow. Seeing him wide open, Batwoman raced towards him, leaping up into the air at the last moment. Leaning backwards, she extended a leg out in front of her as she sailed through the air. Her flying kick landed right in the middle of his back, the force of the blow knocking him forward. His head crashed right into the doors, forcing them both open as the man flew through the air and crashed onto the floor several feet inside. He skidded to a stop, where he didn't even stir.

Entering the room, Batwoman gazed at the opulence of it. She wasn't even sure what it was for other than the fact its walls and ceiling wore expensively decorated, including a large chandelier hanging from the roof. There was nothing else in the room though, making it just a wide open space.

"I don't think this is the way we need to go," she remarked after taking in everything. Looking over her shoulder, she said to Batman, "I think—"

Except, Batman wasn't there. In fact, he was nowhere to be found.

 _What the hell?!_

Spinning around, the vigilante searched everywhere she could with her eyes, only seeing the unconscious bodies she—and apparently only she—had left behind in her wake. When had he disappeared on her? He was just right behind her! She could've sworn it a moment ago.

Oh, he was not pulling that disappearing act on her again.

Hitting her comm link, she called out," Batman, come in. Where the hell are you?" After hearing only radio silence, she growled.

She could practically see it now. Batman had chosen at some point to separate himself from her, letting their fighting distract her. She hadn't even noticed it until now. There was only one reason for him to do so and that was so that he could find Superman all by himself.

How goddamn selfish of him!

Hadn't she proven herself capable by now? She wasn't the mute girl he remembered, but a fully-functioning fighter, one that not only could hold her own, but read, write, and speak. It was like he was trying to protect her still.

Like hell would she let him do that.

Suddenly, the ceiling burst apart, sending large chunks of debris raining down on the floor. Whipping around, Batwoman held her cape in front of her in an attempt to ward off anything that might ricochet towards her, not to mention keep the dust out of her lungs and eyes. When the sound of raining rubble quieted down, she slowly lowered her cape down.

There, standing in the faint glow of daylight from the hole, surrounded by debris, was Shazam. And he didn't look all that happy to see her.

"I was hoping I would find you," he said sternly as he took a step towards her. "I owe you for that missile you fired at me back in Neo-Gotham."

"Why don't we call it even?" she suggested as she fell into a defensive stance. This couldn't have happened at a worse time. Here she was, all alone, with someone who could bail Superman out should Batman somehow get the upper hand on him. It was the last thing any of the Insurgents wanted.

It looked like she would have to stall him.

"Mind telling me why you decided to invade the Hall of Justice?" Shazam asked as he continued to stroll towards her, the vigilante slowly backing away in response. "You went to a lot of trouble separating the Regime up. Why?"

 _Shit._ Shazam was onto them. He didn't even need Cyborg to broadcast whatever damning information he had. A quick call on his communication device and the entire Regime would know.

"I would tell you," she responded after a moment, "except I know you'll try to kill me anyways. So how about we cut the chit-chat and get right to the fighting. I'd rather die without you knowing than die with you knowing."

"Whoever said I was going to kill you?" Shazam returned.

"Superman, mostly. He's been following a kill-on-sight policy for a long time. You can ask Black Lightning's body about it if you want. And since you work for Superman, that policy extends to you."

"You know it doesn't have to. I can show you mercy."

"Mercy that will only last until your back is turned. There's too many on your side that want to mount my head on a pike rather than let you lock me up. You can't tell me you haven't noticed this."

Shazam raised his hands up, making a fist with one as the other enveloped it, cracking his knuckles. "Regardless, I'm bringing you in whether you want to or not."

A batarang found its way into Batwoman's hand. It seemed this was inevitable. That was fine. She had a missile with his name on it. Sure, it wasn't going to be as easy as last time to use it, but all she needed to do was create a situation where he wouldn't be able to dodge it.

She could definitely do that.

Suddenly, a golden light flashed out from behind her, bathing her in its glow. Shazam froze in his approach, shielding his face with a hand. Turning her head, Batwoman was able to hold her gaze due to the lens in her cowl.

Hovering behind her was the symbol of the ankh. Dr. Fate's form slowly came into view, the man floating out of thin air to land next to her, the ankh fading away soon after. "I will not allow this to pass," he declared.

"Who the hell are you?" Shazam exclaimed as he lowered his hand down. At first Batwoman was ready to give him a disbelieving look, right up until she remembered he had been unconscious when Fate had whisked the Insurgency away from the old Gotham Underground.

"That is of little consequence," Dr. Fate said before he looked to Batwoman. "You are needed elsewhere."

"Uhh, as much as I would like to go, in case you haven't noticed, there's someone from the Regime standing right over there," Batwoman pointed out. "And I doubt he will let me leave this room."

"Is that so?" Dr. Fate turned to regard Shazam. "Then if it is combat he desires, I will be his opponent."

For a moment, the vigilante wasn't sure she heard that right. As long as she had known of Fate—because who actually knew the man?—he had never acted offensively. He had defended himself against herself and Batman in the Batcave, then teleported the Insurgency away from the Regime, never once attacking them.

This was new.

"Hey, this doesn't involve you," Shazam said. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of this."

"No," Dr. Fate responded gravely. "Now is the time that Fate intervenes. There will be a battle here, but it will not involve Batwoman. If you desire her, you will have to go through me."

Shazam glared at him. "Fine, but remember, you asked for it."

As the sorcerer nodded, he then addressed Batwoman, not once looking to her. "Go."

Batwoman was not one to turn down that kind of order. Spinning around, she then took off through the doorway, entering the hallway of unconscious guards. While she had doubts that Dr. Fate could take Shazam head-to-head, he could at the very least buy them some time.

In the meantime, she was going to find Batman.

* * *

To Guest: I got Mr. Terrific's superpower from the Infinite Crises story. It was brought up when Batman led a strike team to take out Brother Eye and it was Terrific's power that allowed them to shut down Brother Eye.


	34. Standing Before The Throne

With an arm raised, John Stewart fired blast after blast at his opponent. Such an attack was pretty effective when in a fight. It gave him the advantage of long distance.

The problem, however, was that they weren't doing anything.

The strange-looking woman before him took the blasts head on. One beam seemed to rip through her shoulder, leaving the arm dangling by a string of meat and flesh, only for the damage to repair itself, the arm filling itself in until it normal again. Another beam tore through her chest, leaving a large hole in its wake, yet her body just closed the hole as if it were nothing. Even weirder was that it wasn't like the repairs were done with a fluid-like substance that hardened, but more like a gas that jumped right into solidity.

What kind of shapeshifter was this?

"This isn't fun anymore," the woman—Element Woman she called herself—complained. She then raised both of her arms up, John stopping his barrage as he stared at her. "It's my turn!"

Her mismatched arms turned blue then, jiggling with the consistency of water right before a torrent of the alleged fluid blasted towards the Green Lantern. John's eyes widened right before he tried to form a shield construct; however, he was a step too slow. Before he could raise his defense, the torrent of water slammed into him, lifting him off the floor, and sending him flying back. He was unable to cry out as his mouth was filled with water—salt water, now that he got a taste of it. His back soon slammed into the concrete wall, causing a spider's web of cracks to form behind him. The water soon stopped, which left the man to drop to his feet, and subsequently his knees, his hands and arms bracing up against the floor to keep him from fully collapsing onto it.

Over and over, John coughed and gagged, trying to catch his breath even as he spat the salt water out. This was looking like a true challenge for him. It had been a long time since he fought someone without knowing their capabilities, the Red Lantern Corp notwithstanding. He didn't know much of this shapeshifter, but her abilities were hard to predict.

Tilting his head up, he scowled at the woman as her arms returned to their stone and clay-colored forms. Shifting one leg up so that he was kneeling on one knee, a hand pressed on top of his bent knee, he then raised his ring up and took aim at her. If blasting her into pieces wasn't working, he needed a new tactic.

Green light fired from the ring, the green construct of a missile forming instantly. The missile flew through the air right towards Element Woman, who watched it closing in on her. "This is a new one!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Then, a moment before the missile hit her, it detonated, sending an explosion that blew her off her feet and through the air towards the other side of the parking garage. A green aura glowing around him, John lifted up into the air before he charged ahead.

He caught up soon with Element Woman, who he found just landing on her feet on the floor, where she began skidding across it. Firing another beam of energy, this one hit the woman, only to envelop her in a green glow. Coming to a stop in midair, John then flung his arm up, which caused the green light to go up as well, along with Element Woman. Her body slammed into the ceiling, the crunching sound of concrete filling the air.

Not finished, John then swung his arm down, which forced his foe to crash down hard on the floor. With a finishing touch, he then raised his arm slight, but threw it to a side, which in turn sent Element Woman flying through the air, following along with the arc of the Green Lantern's arm. She ended up slamming into another wall, bursting through it, and leaving a large hole in her wake.

There, that should've done it.

Floating through the air, John moved to hover before the hole, trying to see his foe through it. Before he reached it, however, a large stream of fire shot through the opening. "Whoa!" he shouted as he dodged to a side, the flames and heat licking at him as it passed by.

The moment the fire died down, Element Woman stepped through the hole, a frown on her face. "That wasn't very nice," she said disapprovingly. One of her arms looked like living flames as it crackled, danced, and burned.

"It wasn't supposed to be," John growled at her before he took aim with his ring again. Alright, so blasting her didn't work, blunt force hadn't worked—it seemed he was going to have to get up close and personal. He rapidly fired three green beams, each of which hit the floor by Element Woman's feet, causing a cloud of smoke and dust to kick up in front of her, blinding her to him.

Immediately, John drew his arm back and formed another construct with his ring, this one being a long, wicked-looking blade. Rushing forward, he thrust his arm forward just as he reached the smokescreen, his blow striking true as he felt his arm jerk and come to a sudden stop, a pained gasp coming from his target. As the smoke cleared, John found himself standing on the ground, Element Woman right before him, his blade buried in her chest and extending out her back.

Oh, yeah, he had her now. She was as good as dead.

Element Woman stared down at the construct stabbing her, looking at it in disbelief. Slowly, she looked up at him, her mouth hanging open as if she wanted to say something, but was unsure of what to say. Every other second a choked gag was made. John would've said she was paling, but her face was already white.

And then her face turned yellow. Hmm, that was a little strange, but perhaps this was how her body showed blood loss or impending death. At least, that's what he thought right before she sucked some air in and then blew it at him. Rather than a stream of air from her mouth lightly caressing him, her entire face became a large cloud of yellow smoke, which blew into his face. Immediately, John sucked in the smoke before immediately coughing. He ended up stumbling back a couple steps, his green blade pulling out of Element Woman and vanishing as he raised his hand to cover his mouth, coughing over and over.

"You know, I was told you were a bad guy," Element Woman suddenly spoke, not sounding as if she had just been impaled in the chest. Cracking his closed eyes open, John saw through teary and irritated eyes a distinct lack of a bloody hole in her torso, something that caused alarms to go off in his head. "Now I see it is true. I wasn't always like this you know, able to make any chemical compound with my body."

 _Chemical?!_ Already, John didn't like where this was going.

"I can remember a time you were called a hero, a good guy. But now I know you're bad. No good guy goes for a killing stroke because he can." Her face returned to its normal white color, though that wasn't all it changed to. Her mouth began to grow wider as sharp teeth extended out, her eyes becoming demonic.

"Ahhh!" John shouted as he jumped backwards, right before aiming his ring hand up and blasting the ceiling right above Element Woman. The blast caused large chunks of concrete to fall right on top of her, crushing her beneath its weight.

Panting for a moment, the Green Lantern quickly caught his breath. She had done something to him with that yellow smoke, he was sure of it. Was it a poison? Yeah, it had to be. He could feel something was off with his body. Too bad he couldn't ask Element Woman what it was though.

At least, that's what he thought until he noticed smoke beginning to pour out through the cracks and between the pieces of rubble. Columns emerged all over the pile before they all moved towards the side closest Green Lantern. Right before him, the smoke merged with each other until the head of Element Woman formed. It was only the head, mind you, floating there with a cloud of smoke wafting behind it. "That was fun!" she shouted, much to his shock. Soon, the rest of her body began to form until she was standing in front of him again, looking no worse for wear. "Do you want to do it again?"

"What the hell are you?!" John exclaimed.

"I'm Element Woman!" she proclaimed proudly, hands pressing into her hips. "The Ultimate Survivalist! I can adapt my body to any and all environments, or at least that's what my project was supposed to do. It's worked, you know!"

"You don't say. What else can you do? Make poisons?"

She eagerly nodded. "I can, but I wouldn't. Killing is bad, you know. Now, I think you're getting at that lovely compound I blew into your face. Well, there's a funny story to that: I didn't even come up with it! Batman told me this formula once and had me practice it. He told me what it did, but he didn't really have to, you know. I am an accomplished chemist; I know a hallucinogen when I see one."

That got John's attention. _It couldn't be…_

No, it could. That yellow smoke was the fear gas the vigilante had used on him at Etemenanki. So, he thought he could use the same trick twice? Yeah, right.

"Well, it's not going to work," John warned her as he assumed a stance, one arm hovering in front of him as he drew his ring hand back, holding it up by his head. "You just told me what I'm dealing with; it won't work on me."

Element Woman tilted her head to a side, her pink hair falling down her shoulder. "It won't? Well, how about this?"

Suddenly, her entire body gradually turned black. In fact, she seemed to grow a few inches too, her body becoming bulkier. Horns began to grow out of her head as well as white eyes formed.

And then she changed further.

Fear raced throughout John's body, unexpected and uncontrollable. He...he had seen this monster before. Its white eyes bored into his as a gaping maw of sharp teeth and acid-like drool dripped down its chin. That was about all he could make of the face. There were sharp claws that reached out for him, which he immediately flung his ring hand in front of him, forming a shield in front of him.

 _No! Not again!_

John shook his head as he stamped down on the fear eating away at him. No, this was just like last time. Though he felt fear like any normal person, he had learned to conquer it and leave it dormant beneath his will. Now though, the fear would not be suppressed. It gnawed away at his insides, festering and leaching away at his will.

The creature Element Woman had become reached a hand towards the shield, even as it formed wings that reached high above her head and stretched out into an incredible wingspan. The clawed hand pressed up against the construct, then to John's horror passed right through it without any resistance.

"No!" John shouted before he willed his shield to rush forward, slamming into the black monster's body. Yet, not even that worked as the construct just passed through the creature. All the while, it reached out to John with its extended claws. So focused was he on those claws that he never noticed the monster draw a fist back before throwing it forward, slamming it into his face. The force of the blow sent him flying backwards through the air until he landed hard on his back on the ground, skidding across the floor until he came to a stop.

Face wincing, John absently rubbed his cheek, feeling it beginning to swell up. Damn, he hadn't expected that. It was just as strong as it was big, just like he remembered it. Cracking open his eyes, he tilted his head up to look at it, only to find it was nowhere to be found.

 _Where did it go?_

"Are you seeing something scary?"

John yelped as his jerked his head to a side. Laying on her stomach, head resting on folded arms was Element Woman. Her feet were even up in the air, casually swaying from one side to the other. She was looking at him expectantly, curiously even. Scrambling across the ground to get on his side, he tried to get back onto his feet, but kept slipping back onto the floor. All the while, the pink-haired woman watched him.

And then she lost her from, becoming a large cloud of yellow smoke which blew all over him.

John couldn't help but breath in the gas, coughing an instant later. He squeezed his eyes shut as tears began to leak out of them due to them being irritated by the smoke. Wiping a hand against them to try and clean the irritation away, he cracked an eye open, seeing the yellow gas hovering above and all around him.

That's when he saw it. A face began to form from the smoke. At first, he thought it was a woman's face—in fact, he thought it was Element Woman's. But then it changed into something much different, much more terrifying.

John couldn't help but scream.

* * *

They stared at each other, neither party making a move, waiting for the other to make the first mistake. That was alright in Dr. Fate's mind. Though he loathed violence, looking down on those who relished in it with disdain, he did not mind holding a stalemate. He was certain such a state of affairs would not last, however.

Shazam, though he had the body of a man in his prime, had the mind of an adolescent. The power of the wizard Shazam at the beck and call of a boy of immaturity was foolish. The current conflict was evidence of this.

"So you're the one they call Dr. Fate," Shazam said to him, his eyes boring into his helmet. "I've heard a lot of you from the Wizard."

"Then you know this battle is futile," Fate replied, still hovering over the floor. "Surrender now and let us end this without further violence."

"No," the boy responded sternly. "This world needs leadership and that leadership comes from the only person capable: Superman. He's brought peace to this world, which is something I know you strive for. You should be on our side, not the Insurgents'."

"That is false. The only thing you and this Regime have brought is strife for decades now. Superman's leadership is nothing more than that of a petty despot clinging to power."

"At least he uses his!" Shazam shouted back. "I can't say the same for you, Fate."

"I withhold mine because the damage it could wrought would be immeasurable," Fate said coolly. "There is nothing wrong with restraint, something your mentors have forgotten to teach you. I will be the one to teach you this lesson."

Shazam's body shifted into an aggressive posture. "There's nothing you have that is worth being learned."

"There is always something worth learning," the sorcerer countered. "For instance, I can see a multitude of futures flowing into and out of existence. Right now is a turning point for this world. A better world is within reach and makes for a worthy cause worth fighting for."

"At least that's one thing we can agree on."

That was when Shazam made his move. It was a basic, headstrong charge, one befitting brutes. Dr. Fate merely waved a hand before him, a shimmering blue light radiating out of his palm and washing over his foe. It was the same spell he had used against Batman and Batwoman when he had captured them, but this time he used it to divert Shazam's charge away from him and off to his right. As his hand completed his gesture, he ended the spell, the light fading out of existence. A moment later and there was a loud crash as Shazam undoubtedly slammed head first into the wall. Turning his head, he saw the young man on his hands and knees, shaking the daze he most likely felt. Keeping his head still, Fate turned the rest of his body so that he could fully face the red-clad man.

"Cute trick," Shazam spat out as he slowly pushed himself onto his feet, standing up straight. "But that will not work twice."

Suddenly, he raced towards the sorcerer as a red blur. The speed was surprising, but nothing that worried Fate. Crossing his arms over his chest, a construct of light blue light appeared before him, just as his opponent threw a punch at him.

The fist rammed right into the construct, but went no further. For a moment, the dark-haired youth blinked his eyes in surprise before a determined expression covered his face. Drawing back his other fist, he threw it a moment later, receiving the same result as the shield withstood his blow. Over and over, he slammed punch after punch against the shield spell, not once causing it to waver or break. His stubbornness to physically break through the spell was beyond foolishness.

Case in point: as Shazam landed another blow to the shield, it suddenly expanded out in all directions, right before the edges curved inward. Before the youth knew what had happened, the spell had surrounded him on all sides, forming a bubble around him.

Holding a hand out before him, the palm facing up towards the ceiling, Dr. Fate then moved his arm up, which caused the bubble to suddenly dart up into the air. In fact, it crashed right into the ceiling, causing Shazam to be thrown up into the top of the bubble, bouncing up and down with in it. Rotating his hand to face down, Fate then swung his arm down, which brought Shazam down to the floor, the blue bubble causing him to ricochet within it upon contact.

With his palm facing the bubble now, Fate then thrust it forward, sending his captured foe flying away from him until the spell came into contact with another wall. This time, the bubble detonated, causing an explosion to ring out as smoke was thrown in all directions.

Once more, Fate had both arms crossed over his chest as he began to float towards the destruction. He doubted that was the end of Shazam, but he had been wrong about such things before. It was always best to ensure victory rather than assume it.

As the smoke began to dissipate, however, a bolt of electricity suddenly flashed towards him, striking the sorcerer in the chest. Immediately, his body began to spasm from the charge, Fate cringing away from it as he cried out, arms twisting at his sides.

That was when Shazam re-emerged. Fate only knew this as a fist slammed into his face, causing his head to snap backwards and to a side. The next thing he knew, he was flying head first through the air, spinning as he did so until he crashed into a wall. While his helmet protected his head from great trauma, the rest of his body was forced to continue moving from his momentum, slapping down against the wall as it swung from a horizontal angle to a vertical one. Gravity set in and he dropped down, his feet touching down on the floor, back pressed up against the wall for balance.

"You really like to use magic," Shazam remarked as he walked towards him, one hand wrapped over a fist, cracking the knuckles. "Unfortunately for you, magic is what I'm all about."

Fate physically shook his head to rid himself of the daze he felt. "You know nothing of magic."

"Says you." Shazam held both of his hands up, bolts of electricity dancing over his palms and fingers, just before he clenched them into fists, promptly ending his display of power. "I have six Gods that lend me their power. How many do you have?"

"Only one," he admitted

Shazam snorted. "You thought you could put the power of one God against six? I think that helmet of yours is on a little too tight."

Dr. Fate narrowed his eyes. "It is the quality, not the quantity. The Gods that fuel your power are nothing in the presence of Nabu. I will show this to you."

Shazam summoned his power back to his hands, arms still held up. Suddenly he pointed his hands towards the sorcerer, a bolt of lighting firing from them. In response, Fate thrust both of his arms out, the bottom of his palms pressed against each other while his fingers curved to point towards his opponent. He formed another shield in front of him to block the lightning, which the electrical spell struck.

However, the power behind it was greater than Dr. Fate had anticipated. His shield was shattered before his eyes, right before the magical lightning blasted into him, forcing his body to press back harder against the wall. Cracks began to grow out on the wall's surface from behind his body from the pressure.

And then Shazam was right in front of him, slamming a fist against the side of his face, causing his head to snap to a side. He threw another punch with his other hand, which caused his head to jerk to the other side. A blow to his stomach made the sorcerer bend over, losing the air in his lungs that left him breathless.

The dark-haired youth then stepped to a side, a hand grabbing onto Fate's cape. Twisting his body around, he pulled on it hard enough to pull Fate off the floor and swing around the young man. Letting go, Shazam sent him tumbling through the air until he landed hard on the floor, bouncing a few times before he came to a stop.

A groan left Fate's lips. This sensation, this feeling of physical exhaustion and pain, he had not felt such a thing in a long time. Though he was confident in his magical prowess, this physicality he was not prepared for. Pushing his upper body up with his hands and arms, he turned his head to see Shazam rushing towards him. Eyes widening, he called upon a spell to protect him.

It started off as a small sphere of light, but as it moved away from him, the symbol of the ankh formed, growing larger and larger. Predictably, Shazam charged right into it, only to be blasted backwards as he cried out. The youth careened upward through the air until he collided with the ceiling, immediately ricocheting off of it, dropping straight down to land on the floor.

Gingerly, Fate got back onto his feet. He did not like how his body ached, but that would have to be dealt with at a later time. Holding both of his arms out at shoulder height and to his side, he formed two large orbs of magic that surrounded his hands, the symbol of Anubis contained at their cores. Taking a step forward, the sorcerer threw one of the orbs towards Shazam, throwing the other a moment later. They moved through the air at a constant rate, not speeding up nor slowing down.

By the time they had reached their target, Shazam had gotten back onto his feet. Seeing the spells, he jerked to a side to avoid the first one, the orb flying by him harmlessly. For the second one, he gathered electricity that danced up and down one arm. Drawing the arm across his chest, he then swung it out, batting the second magic orb away. This one flew towards a wall at a fast rate, detonating the moment it crashed into the solid surface.

However, by the time the explosion rang out, the first orb had reversed course, flying back towards Shazam, where it struck him in the back. The young man cried out as his head jerked backwards, face twisted with pain.

 _Now!_

Thrusting both hands out in front of him, a much larger blue light glowed out from Fate's palms, traveling through the air until it washed over Shazam. Immediately, his body froze in its pose, the young man taking a moment to realize this before he attempted to resist.

"I must admit, you have proven yourself capable," Dr. Fate told him as he maintained his spell. "Such power in one so young, however, cannot be allowed to go on. I feel that if this world was not so corrupted, one of your ability and belief would be a great hero. The abuses you have committed thus far cannot and will not be allowed to go on further."

A golden aura began to glow around Dr. Fate as he gathered his magical energies to his person, concentrating them. What he was about to do was going to require quite a bit of power, but it would be done. In a hollow voice that rang throughout his helmet, he commanded, "Loqui verbum."

Shazam's body stiffened, muscles flexing and straining at the magical command. His face began to become red as his cheeks began to puff out. Though his will was great, it was nothing against the power of Fate. "Shazam!" he cried out.

Through the hole in the roof, a large bolt of lightning flashed down, striking the youth. The moment it touched him, a blinding light filled the room. Immediately, Dr. Fate unleashed his gathered energies, directing them towards Shazam. The unleashed spell formed a large blue sphere at the impact site of the lightning, glowing brighter and brighter with every passing second The whiteness of the lightning combined with the blue of his magic erased everything from sight. Fate couldn't see so much as a foot in front of his face, losing sight of his extended arms.

It took some time before the light began to fade away. When the room finally came back into view, the only things standing were Dr. Fate and the form of Billy Batson. Gone was the lightning and the blue spell as well as the powerful form of Shazam.

The sorcerer panted heavily from fatigue within his helm, another long forgotten feeling. This time, however, he was more than happy to feel such a thing considering the amount of magic he had used.

Billy looked amazed at the sight of his normal self. "What...what happened?" he asked as he looked at his bare arms. He then shifted his attention to Fate. "Shazam!" he shouted.

Nothing happened.

A few seconds passed before a frown appeared on the boy's face. "Shazam!" he cried out again, only to receive the same result. "Shazam! Shazam!"

"That will not work," Fate told him.

Immediately, the boy's full focus was on him. "What did you do?!" he screamed.

"What should have been done a long time ago." Dr. Fate straightened out his posture, feeling his fatigue slowly relieving itself. "I have cut you off from your connection to the Wizard, Shazam. No matter how many times you say his name, his power is beyond your grasp."

The amazement and disbelief on Billy's face was all-encompassing. "You…you can't. Do you know what you've done?!"

Fate tilted his head back. "I have done what was needed to be done."

That's when he felt it. Though Billy no longer was able to summon the lightning of Shazam, the presence of magic prickled at him. It was the only warning he received and it was all he needed.

Throwing his arms out to his sides, a blue shield formed around him, just as green flames collided with it and washed over its curved surface. He was able to weather the attack, waiting for it to stop before he dropped his defense.

Turning around, Fate found the attacker, the green-clad witch simply known as Enchantress. "I'm glad to see I'm not too late to the party," the woman declared, holding a hand out in front of her, green flames licking at her fingers.

"Enchantress," Fate intoned.

"Dr. Fate," she greeted back, hungrily licking her lips with her tongue. "I'm so glad to see you here. I've waited a _long_ time for this."

* * *

Blue Beetle focused on the very sharp points of the trident as it stabbed towards him. His goal was to make sure it didn't skewer him.

That would've been nice.

Jerking to a side as his body twisted, he avoided the thrust successfully, head following along with the weapon as it was pulled back. Aquaman was not the least bit perturbed by his miss as he stabbed over and over at him with the trident, Beetle jumping from side to side as he dodged it.

Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere, the blond man crossed his weapon across his chest before he swung it out, trying a different way to hit the teen. Seeing as the guy was a solid foot taller than him, which made his swing high, Blue Beetle ducked down as the trident passed over his head.

However, that proved to be the wrong thing to focus on. Using the momentum of his swing to his advantage, Aquaman spun along with it, one leg drawn back before he lashed out with it, landing a kick to the side of Blue Beetle's face. Head snapping to a side, Jaime felt shell-shocked by the blow. He hadn't ever been hit like that—though that was probably in part because he never got into fights. Feeling rattled, he realized almost too late that the Atlantean was still spinning, meaning he going in for another attack.

Jumping backwards, he just barely dodged the trident again, though this time its tips scraped against his chest, leaving white scratch marks in their wake. There was no blood, thankfully; however, he was again left wide open for the fist that rammed into his face.

Blue Beetle cried out as he felt himself flying backward, his back colliding with a wall. Gritting his teeth, he fought to keep his eyes open, refusing to let them close. If he did that, there was no telling what else Aquaman would do to him.

As it was now, the man was running at him, both hands holding onto his trident and keeping it next to his hip, looking to impale the teen on it. No way was that going to happen. Holding his right hand out, he frantically willed for it to become some sort of blunt object, anything that he could use at a moment's notice.

Though he would've settled for anything useful, it seemed the Scarab had a couple ideas. Hand expanding and becoming round, it was soon a large mace head with spikes sticking out all over the place. Hoping he was timing this right, he took a step forward and swung the mace upward.

The mace collided with the end of the trident, causing both weapons to be flung upward, the sound of clashing metals ringing out into the air. _Success!_

And then Aquaman adjusted his body so that he was leading with his shoulder, moving the trident behind him just as he rammed into the teen, pushing him back up against the wall. The blond man's free hand grabbed onto Blue Beetle's wrist, the one belonging to his mace, and pinned it against the wall. Before the teen could do anything, Aquaman leaned his head back before throwing it forward, landing a headbutt to his face.

If getting punched and kicked in the face bothered Blue Beetle, the headbutt was damn near indescribable in comparison. Pain exploded throughout his nose, cheeks, and forehead, the boy crying out in response.

 _Oh God. Why am I doing this? Why did I agree to this?_ Those thoughts rattled around in Jaime's head. He should've known; he should've known this was a bad idea. It was one thing to be sparing with fighting veterans, but this was live combat. Aquaman was trying to kill him! He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be here at all!

He wanted out of this!

Since his eyes had squeezed shut from the headbutt, he had to force them open. He was just in time too to see Aquaman adjusting his body so that he could spear him with the trident. _Oh God, somebody help me!_

Though no one came to his aid, some thing did. In fact, it was the Scarab as Jaime found his body not under his control anymore. From his back, two insect-like legs emerged out, moving around his body and then shooting off like missiles to stab into Aquaman. Caught off guard, the Atlantean backed off a few steps, hissing as the ends of the legs pulled out from his torso, leaving small, bloody holes in their wake.

This left both of his hands free, even though only one of them had technically been restrained. His body leaping forward, Jaime swung down his mace hand, slamming it down on the top of Aquaman's head, causing it to snap down as his knees buckled. With his mace held low, his body then swung it up, landing an uppercut to the blond man's face, and this time sending him flying backwards, landing on his back on the floor several feet away.

Yet, Jaime could feel his body—the Scarab—was not finished. _Stop!_ he cried out in his mind, which gave the Scarab pause. Immediately, he seized control again, complete feeling returning throughout his arms and legs. Flashes of the time the Scarab had full control of him during the fight with Cyborg filled his mind, motivation to seize control while he had a chance. He didn't want to be an unwilling passenger again.

By the time he was certain he was back in the driver's seat, Aquaman was back on his feet, the butt of his trident on the floor as he held it vertical. "So you do have some fight in you," the Atlantean remarked. "This may prove interesting yet."

"What can I say, I'm full of surprises," Jaime quipped as he readied himself, sounding more confident than he felt. He just knew this guy was going to attack him, he just didn't know how.

That was when energy began crackling up and down the trident, catching the teen's full attention. "As you will see, so am I," Aquaman retorted.

That was when he lifted up the trident and pointed it towards him, a bolt of lighting firing from its tips, racing towards Jaime. Yelping, the youth froze as the attack streaked right for him.

It would have hit him too had the Scarab not acted. Wings sprouted out of his back and immediately began to flap, causing them to shoot up into the air, dodging the lightning bolt as it passed right below them. It struck the wall soon after, leaving a scorch mark in its wake.

Unfortunately, Aquaman wasn't done. Letting out a war cry, he twisted his body to a side, flipping his trident in his grasp. Turning back, he threw the weapon right at Jaime, the teen darting to a side to dodge it. His body twisted around so that he could follow it, seeing its points hit the glass of the dome above their heads. In fact, the trident stuck in the glass.

And then it vanished in a flash of light, leaving only cracked glass and puncture holes where it had once stood. The glass had to be made of something thick considering water wasn't leaking through it. That was of some comfort.

However, Jaime had the sneaky suspicion that the missing trident was not a good thing. Spinning around, he found, much to his chagrin, Aquaman holding the trident once more, as if it had never left his side. There was something unfair about that.

The moment he saw the lightning dancing over the weapon, the youth knew he needed to act. Forming his energy blaster, he aimed it right at his opponent and fired a beam of energy at him. Seeing it coming, Aquaman dove to a side, going into a roll which ended with him back on his feet, though crouching. Jaime's beam hit the ground where he had been standing previously, damaging the floor, but nothing more.

And then Aquaman thrust his trident in front of him, firing another lightning bolt at him. Jaime also moved to a side to avoid the attack, taking aim again with his blaster.

Except, Aquaman was now firing another lightning blast at him, forcing the youth to keep moving. Over and over, the blasts flew towards him and he kept flying, going up and down, darting from side to side to avoid them all. None came close to him, which he liked, but he was kept on the defensive the entire time.

Then, for whatever reason, the guy stopped. Coming to hover in midair, Jaime stared at him, unsure of what to do. "Getting tired of shooting at me?" he asked hesitantly.

"Something like that," Aquaman grunted back. "Though if I were you, I would get back onto the ground."

"No, thanks," he quickly replied. "Being this far away from you suits me just fine."

"Suit yourself, but you might want to look behind you."

Jaime was definitely puzzled. Why would Aquaman tell him that? Turning around, he soon found out just what the man meant. Hovering over the glass dome was some kind of monster. It was large, had countless suction cups that glued it to the dome, and a big, beak-like mouth that scratched at the glass.

"Santa Maria!" he swore as he darted backwards, an unconscious reflex. What the hell was that?! A squid? A kraken?!

And then something powerful, something painful struck him in the back. Jaime screamed as he was burned and jolted, his wings stiffening from whatever had hit him. The moment it ended, he fell to the floor, landing on it hard enough to bounce off of it, and then collapse right back onto it.

"Ow…" he groaned as he slowly pushed his head up. Before him, he saw some weird kind of circle on the wall, ripples of water forming a liquid barrier. For some reason, he felt as if that was some kind of doorway out into the watery depths surrounding Atlantis. Why they had such a doorway mystified him to be honest.

Pushing himself onto his hands, and then his feet, he slowly stood up, wincing from the wounds on his back. At least, he thought there were some. The Scarab was freaking out in the back of his head, clearly agitated.

That was when he heard footsteps, loud and fast ones, which caused the youth the turn around. There he found Aquaman running at him, holding his trident in both hands in front of him. As the distance between them shrank rapidly, the blond man moved the lower end of his trident further away from him and then down. The moment it touched the floor, Aquaman leapt off the ground, using the weapon to vault himself forward as he swung his legs in front of him. It had happened so quickly that Jaime was unable to respond.

Aquaman slammed his feet into Jaime's chest, causing him to go flying backwards. Before he knew it, his back collided with the watery doorway he had seen mere seconds earlier, his entire body passing through it and being submerged in water.

And suddenly Jaime knew why Atlantis had such a door.

* * *

It had been fairly easy to separate from Batwoman. With the guards providing an effective distraction, Batman had parted ways with her, his presence going unnoticed by all. She would be fine on her own, he was quite certain of. This next part she didn't need to be involved with.

Which led him to here. According to the schematics Mr. Terrific had obtained during his excursion here, this was the Throne Room, where Superman would most likely be. It was the most logical place for him to be.

Accessing the keypad next to the door, he entered the correct code, the door sliding to a side in response. Passing through the doorway, he saw the depressing decor, the looming dais at the other end of the room.

Superman sitting on his throne, staring down at him.

The two men stared at each other from across the room, neither one moving nor speaking. The door even slid shut behind Batman, though he gave it very little attention.

Ultimately, it was Superman who broke the silence. "I was beginning to wonder when we would meet," the dark-haired man greeted him.

"I was beginning to wonder if you would ever leave that throne of yours to come find me," the vigilante countered.

The Kryptonian shrugged his shoulders. "Why would I? We both knew you were going to come to me eventually; it was only a matter of time."

Batman narrowed his eyes. "You know, something's been bothering me, ever since I came...here. When I last saw you, you were more than willing to fight your own battles. You didn't let others dirty their hands for you. You dove in headfirst, the consequences be damned."

The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow, looking down at the vigilante from behind his upturned nose. "Are you trying to make a point?"

"What changed?" Batman returned rhetorically. "If what I've heard is true, you never had any problem killing people. Strangling them, beating them, burning them with your heat vision; there was no hesitation."

Superman's features hardened. "Don't you get sanctimonious with me, not after everything you've done. You're just as much of a sinner as I am, what with your torturing of suspects, breaking the law, invasion of privacy."

"But never killing," he interjected. "I'm the only one here whose hands aren't drenched in blood. You used to be the same way too."

"That was before I realized some lives needed to be taken so that others could live in peace."

"Lives like J'onn J'onzz?"

Superman nearly leaped out of his chair, lunging forward, but stopping right at the edge of his seat. "He betrayed the cause," he shouted angrily, his face twisted with fury. "He let out countless criminals to undermine everything!"

"Criminals like my daughter?!" Batman roared back.

Superman froze, which was all the dark-clad man needed to know. "I heard what you did to Batgirl, how you lobotomized her." It was getting harder to keep his own anger under control as he spat out each word. "What exactly did she do that warranted you burning her mind away?"

"She was your...but how...I...I didn't know…" the dark-haired man stammered.

"Of course you didn't, which has always been your problem, Kent—you've never thought out your actions. For a man as smart as you, the moment a crisis springs up, you rely on your fists. Never mind investigating, never mind gathering the facts, you just punch your way to the finish line. Sometimes that can work when there's no other alternatives left to you, but when you do have a choice and still choose to beat your problems into submission, that's when you get incidents like Metropolis."

"Don't you dare put that on me," Superman threatened, his eyes burning with anger. "I was under the Joker's influence then and you know it."

"After you disobeyed an order to stay in pairs," Batman replied snidely. "You underestimated the man and he got the better of you—and Metropolis paid the price for your hubris."

The scowl on the Kryptonian's face told him just how much he thought of that statement. "Is that all you have to say? Criticism? What happened to Batgirl is as much your fault as it is mine. If I had known you had a child, I would have never hurt them. But you never told anyone. All anyone knew was that Bruce Wayne was a lifelong bachelor. That means no kids, maybe, possibly only extended family. Was she even your own blood?"

"No, she isn't," he said through gritted teeth. "But she's just as much my family the same way Jonathan and Martha Kent are yours."

There was a pause. "So that's the way, is it?"

"It is."

"Then I'm sorry—truly."

"No, you're not." Batman's face hardened. "If you really were, you wouldn't have killed as many people as you have, then ordered the others to do so as well."

"And now we've come full circle." Superman slumped into his chair. "Why don't we skip the rest of this posturing and just get into the fight? You were spoiling for one long before you got here, so let's just get it over with."

"You sure you're up to it?" Batman asked. "After all, you haven't fought your own battles in nearly five years."

"Because there hasn't been anyone worth fighting," he replied haughtily.

"Now that's another thing that's been bothering me—those words. Those aren't yours. Clark Kent never said anything like that. It's something Hawkgirl or Diana would say. In fact, I'm betting on that."

Superman narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"That it was one of them who said that and you're just parroting their words." When the dark-haired man didn't reply, Batman continued, "A lot of things have struck me as coincidental since I arrived on the scene. Your absent from the battlefield, the production of your little super pills. All of these things happened about five years ago, the last known uprising against your Regime."

"Your point?"

"That something happened then. Zatanna was the one leading it, right? She got to you, didn't she? She got to you and put a spell on you before she could be stopped. By the time she was killed, it was too late to reverse it. In fact, any chance of reversing it ended when Zatanna died at the hands of one of your stooges. You tried other ways to break the spell, but all the magic users your brought in couldn't do it. You were stuck with it."

Batman then straightened out his posture. "You don't have to tell me what the spell did. There's only one thing it could be; Zatanna took away your powers, didn't she."

The silence in the room told him he was right, so he pressed on. "That's why you started the production of the super pills, so that you could restore your powers another way. They worked in some ways, giving you back your strength and durability, but it didn't give you your flight, or heat vision, maybe even your super speed. So the others came up with your excuse of unworthy opponents and you locked yourself away in your throne room. Sound about right?"

Superman just stared at him. Slowly, he raised his hands up, just before he began clapping them over and over. "You really are the World's Greatest Detective," he complimented him.

He then stopped his clapping before reaching out to a small stand next to his throne, a bowl situated on top of it. There was a rattling sound coming from it as Superman's hand disappeared into it, only to reveal one of the super pills when he drew it back. Clutched between his fingers, he raised the pill up to his mouth and tossed it in, dry swallowing it with an audible gulp.

Standing up, the Kryptonian began descending down the stairs, reaching the bottom soon after. "I hope you're ready, Bruce. I won't be going easy on you."

Batman slid into a fighting stance. "Funny, that's what I was going to say to you."

A small smile appeared on Superman's face, a moment of levity for him, or so it would seem. Then his face hardened and he charged forward.

* * *

To Guest: Dr. Fate clearly won his fight

To Archergreatestsecretagent: For some reason FFN isn't allowing me to reply to your review. It's happened before, so until it's fixed, I'll respond to you this way. The response itself: I'm glad your enjoying the story. BvS is just around the corner.


	35. Battle Of The Titans

Superman charged at him like a raging bull. Arms pumping at his sides, he closed the distance between them, drawing a large fist back, and throwing it at the last moment. Throwing an arm up, Batman blocked the blow with his forearm.

At least, that was the plan. The force behind the blow was stronger than he had anticipated and he found his upper body being forced back as he leaned to compensate, causing strain in his lower back. Not the least bit deterred, he swung his own fist, going in low and arcing up, landing the punch to Superman's abdomen.

The Kryptonian didn't so much as grunt, standing here as he looked at the dark-clad man blankly. In fact, they both stared at each other, holding their positions, seeming to wait for something, anything to happen.

Something did happen, though it wasn't in Batman's favor. Before he knew it, Superman's other hand had snaked up, taking hold of his shoulder in a vice-like grip. Drawing his head back, he then swung it forward, headbutting the Dark Knight across the forehead, stars exploding before his eyes.

Letting out a pained cry, Batman stumbled back, feeling the pressure from Superman's grip on his shoulder disappearing. He found out why a moment later as a fist rammed into the side of his face, snapping his head to a side, spit flying out of his mouth. The pain he felt in his face was soon overwhelmed by the one that erupted in his gut as he took another blow there, causing him to bend over and lose his breath.

Finally, he was struck again by a punch to the face, this one sending him careening backwards through the air, crashing to the floor a short distance away. His body bounced once, his legs flipping over his head and causing him to go into an uncomfortable roll, the vigilante ending up on his stomach, cape draped all over him.

That had hurt—really hurt. He had fought quite a few people on the super pill, but none of them had leveled Batman like this. He gasped for air, sucking in as much as he could.

"You're probably asking yourself 'why does it hurt so much?'" Superman spoke them, casually walking towards him. "You've fought quite a few of my guards on the pill and none of them had hurt you this badly."

Pushing himself onto his hands and knees, then onto the balls of his feet, Batman glared at the approaching Kryptonian. This didn't stop the man from answering his rhetorical question. "And the answer is pretty simple: those pills were made for my biology. The tech that made them is Kryptonian, so naturally their effects on me will be greater than a human."

"That a fact?" Batman drawled as he reached to his belt, pulling out a bat-shaped shuriken. "Then I guess I should stop holding back."

Whipping his arm out in front of him, he sent the shuriken spinning through the air as it flew towards the Kryptonian. Superman stopped his walking, waiting for the projectile to reach him, which it did, colliding with his chest.

An explosion suddenly erupted, the blast knocking the dark-haired man back a step as he cried out. Pushing off against the floor, Batman charged at his foe, leaping up into the air at the last moment as he leaned backwards, extending a leg out in front of him. Through the small smoke cloud, he felt his foot ram into Superman's face, the vigilante bouncing off of it as he dropped back to the floor. Leaping forward, he threw an uppercut into Superman's stomach, followed by another, and then another. This time he heard a grunt.

Then was promptly nailed in the side of the head with a casual backhand blow.

Because of his focus on the offensive, Batman had failed to see Superman casually crossing an arm over his chest, then the subsequent swing of it back, the back of his fist hitting him hard enough to send him flying back through the air again. This time, Batman's back slammed into the door, causing it to dent from the impact. Somehow, he managed to land on his feet, maintaining his balance.

"I have to say, I'm rather disappointed," Superman remarked, this time not even making a move towards him. "Here I am, at half-strength at best, and you haven't even tickled me. When are you going to get serious and bring out the Kryptonite? You know that's the only way to take me."

Batman narrowed his eyes. That was either a taunt, or a trap lying in wait. What other reason would a man bring up his own widely-known weakness in a fight? While he had lost his powers, the dark-clad man highly doubted the same spell took away his vulnerabilities as well. There to be an ulterior motive.

Not that it mattered. He didn't have a sliver of that irradiated rock, mainly because he had been so certain of his theory of Superman's lost powers. At least, he didn't have a solid form of it. He had underestimated the super pills effects on the man, but that was something he could compensate for.

Again, he went for his belt, pulling out a multitude of shuriken. Swinging his arms back and forth in front of him, he launched a shuriken with each swing, the projectiles flying towards their target.

Instead of letting them hit him this time, Superman began to dodge, leaning back and to a side to avoid the first one, stepping to a side with the next one, which left his profile facing the vigilante. Leaping in the direction he was facing, he dodged the next shuriken, ducking soon after as a fourth flew at him, going over his head. Each shuriken hit the floor or the wall the moment they passed by, an end sticking into the surface.

"You done yet?" Superman asked him, giving him a bored look.

"Not quite," the Dark Knight replied. "I'm just waiting for the boom."

Immediately, the dark-haired man whipped his head around to look at the shuriken around the room. Instantly, Batman threw another shuriken, watching as it flew at the Kryptonian. By the time Superman realized his bluff, he had just turned his head around in time for the projectile to hit him against his shoulder.

Electricity blasted out of the shuriken, sending a jolting shock throughout Superman's body, the man crying out from the pain. Running again, Batman timed his run for maximum lift as he once more leapt as high as he could. Leaning forward as he swung his legs back and then up over his head, he flipped over his foe. He was at mid-flip, completely upside down above Superman's head when he shot his arms out, wrapping them around the Kryptonian's head and neck. Because of the insulation of his suit, the electricity shocking his opponent didn't faze him, which allowed him to use his momentum to swing downward, forcing the dark-haired man to bend backwards.

The moment Batman's feet swung underneath him and touched down on the floor, he pulled as hard as he could forward on Superman's head, feeling the Kryptonian's back press against his shoulder. Letting out a yell, Batman forced his foe to go into a back flip over the dark-clad man's shoulder, swinging him through the air and then down onto the ground. Superman slammed down hard on the floor, the electricity shocking stopping the moment his body crushed the shuriken beneath him.

Refusing to give up his advantage, Batman hauled one of his legs up before he sent it slamming down on the back of Superman's head, stomping him over and over. He wasn't sure if he was doing damage this way, but he was pretty sure he was making the man see stars at the moment.

And then Superman reacted. Shooting an arm out, he slapped at the vigilante's grounded foot, knocking it out from under him. Feeling himself tumbling backwards, Batman shot his arms out over his head, going into a back flip as his hands touched down on the floor, and then pushed off of it, landing back on his feet.

By then, Superman was back on on his own, charging at him with a raised fist. Stepping back, he avoided the first punch, backing a step again to avoid the second. As he saw Superman drawing back a third punch, he couldn't help but noticed just how wide the man had his legs.

This time, Batman jumped backwards, just as the Kryptonian threw his now-third missed punch. Instantly, he dove forward, dropping to the floor where he slid across it, sliding between his foe's open legs. As he slowed to a stop, he rolled onto his back, bringing both of his legs up, his knees damn near at his chest. Kicking out with them, his feet collided with the back of Superman's knees, causing them to buckle, a short cry coming from the man as he dropped to his knees.

This time, Batman didn't press his advantage, scrambling back onto his feet and putting a several feet between him and his opponent. Though he was sure he had caused some pain, he couldn't see any outward sign of injury, which was quite concerning. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Superman slowly get back onto his feet, turning around to scowl at him.

After all that, he hadn't even drawn blood, bruised the man, or even given him a fat lip. Damn it.

"If that's the best you've got, then you're going to lose, Bruce," the dark-haired man told him. "I really hope that was it."

In his current state, yeah, that was. He had been hoping that he wouldn't have to use this just yet, but it seemed he didn't have much choice. A de-powered Superman he should've been able to take; someone of Diana, or Shazam's class required more power.

It seemed so did a Superman on Kryptonian-made super pills.

Holding an arm up, he reached up with his other and pressed a button with on his gauntlet. A moment later, a green light lit up the back of his hands, the light forming a line that went up his arms. The inner edges of his triangle blades lit up as well as was as the outline of the Bat Symbol on his chest.

All of this caused Superman to narrow his eyes. "Bought yourself another toy, Bruce? I don't know what it is, but I'm going to take pleasure in breaking it."

And then he charged again. This time, Batman held his ground, arms at his sides as he waited. He saw the man draw another fist back, saw it be thrown for his head.

In an instant, the Dark Knight shot a hand out and caught the fist, holding it at bay as if it were nothing.

Eyes focused on Superman, he watched as surprise appeared on the man's face, eyes slowing glancing to where his fist was held by the gloved hand of his foe. Hardening his face, Batman then threw his own punch, slamming it into the man's unguarded face, causing his head to jerk back into an awkward angle.

Then the Kryptonian was flung backwards, sailing through the air until he landed on his back on the ground. Slowly, Batman lowered his hands and waited.

He didn't have to wait for very long. "What...what was that?" Superman asked softly as he began to push himself up, cradling his jaw with one hand.

"Kryptonite-powered combat suit," Batman answered him. "I made it after your demolition of Metropolis. After that fight, I realized that if I were to take you head-on, a large mech-suit was not the way to go. Mobility, as well as power and durability, would be needed."

A scowl appeared on the dark-haired man's face as he slowly got back onto his feet. "It always goes back to Kryptonite, doesn't it? Why can't you megalomaniac billionaires come up with something else?"

"The moment you come up with a power source greater than Kryptonite, I'd gladly use it. Until then, get used to me using it to kick your Kryptonian ass."

* * *

So this was the situation: there was a red robot standing in front of Ollie and Mr. Terrific. According to Terrific, this robot was a match for the weapons project Cyborg had been conducting here. For some reason, Ollie had been under the impression that said project hadn't been completed.

Goes to show what he knew.

"So, how much should I be hoping this thing doesn't see you," the blond archer muttered to his counterpart. It had only been a couple minutes ago, but Terrific had confessed that there wasn't a machine that could see him. If that was the case, they had an advantage here. It was better than not having one considering they were looking right at a robot with unknown capabilities.

"You don't have to hope," Terrific told him, clutching at his crowbar with both hands. "Right now the only person it should be focused on is you."

Perfect. "Then I've got an idea. I'll distract it while you sneak around and put it out of commission." Yeah, that was a good plan if he didn't say so himself. "You got another of those toys you used on Cyborg handy?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Well, now that was disappointing. "I only had enough time to make the one," Mr. Terrific explained, even as he slowly edged himself away from Ollie. He wasn't sure if the man was trying to stay out of hitting distance of him, or was attempting to work his way around the robot guy. "But don't worry, I'll come up with something. You just keep its attention on you."

"Or else what? It's not like it's going to see you."

With that said, Ollie did take off running to his right—and more importantly away from Mr. Terrific. This Tornado robot turned its head to follow him, which was a good sign that it was indeed locked onto him. Reaching up to his quiver, he pulled out an arrow, notching it as he skidded across the floor on his feet as he came to a stop. Taking aim, he fired the arrow right at the robot.

Only to see Red Tornado raise a hand up, and what was best described as a torrent of red wind blow out of its palm. The arrow never stood a chance as it was blown off course, being flung away uselessly.

Unfortunately, the wind tunnel continued moving forward and hit Ollie right in the chest, knocking him off his feet, and sending him flying backwards until his back slammed against a wall. "Ahh!" he grunted out before he dropped to the floor, sitting there in a heap.

That hadn't felt good.

By then, fortunately, Mr. Terrific had managed to sneak around Red Tornado. With his crowbar held high, he swung it down and low, hitting the robot on the side of its knee. The robot's leg gave, causing it to lurch awkwardly to a side.

Then out of nowhere, Red Tornado raised its right arm, holding level at shoulder height. Inexplicably it twisted it's upper body around, landing a backhand across Mr. Terrific's face. The blow sent the man flying backwards until he crashed onto the nearby wall, dropping to the floor where he sat limply.

Ollie stared agape at the sight. What...what had happened? Wasn't Mr. Terrific invisible to robots? How had Red Tornado even hit him? This didn't make any sense at all!

Red Tornado turned itself to look at Terrific, except he didn't look right at the man. Instead it seemed as if he were looking at the wall next to him. "Unknown threat detected," it said, head turning to the left and then the right. "Searching for visual identification of threat—status: progressing."

Was...was this actually happening? The robot had dropped its guard, actually facing away from the archer as it searched for Terrific. There was a time or two its actual head seemed to look right at the unconscious man, but didn't pause to regard him. This was too absurd and lucky to happen.

The fact that the robot had hit Terrific must have been a defensive action. Though it didn't see Terrific, it felt him hit its leg and thus reacted. It was the only thing that made sense at the moment. However, there was an opportunity before the blond archer and he wasn't going to let it slip away.

Immediately, Ollie was on one knee, an arrow notched on his bow. He didn't even have to pause to take aim as he let the arrow fly, watching as it flew right for the back of Red Tornado's head.

Then watched as the arrow collided with the metal exterior and bounce off harmlessly.

Now that was just sad.

Immediately, Red Tornado returned its sights to Ollie. "Target acquired: Oliver Queen."

"Shit," he cursed. He had the perfect set-up, an unguarded target, and he used a normal arrow against a clearly arrow-proof exterior. Why hadn't he used one of his trick arrows? His gift-wrapped opportunity was literally flying out of the window.

Before he could berate himself further, the robot raised a hand up, aiming it right at him. Eyes widening, Ollie shot up onto his feet and began running, just before the red wind tunnel fired out of his foe's hand and hit the spot he had been kneeling at. Red Tornado moved its hand to follow after its target, the wind tunnel giving chase. Arms pumping at his sides, Ollie ran as fast as he could to keep ahead of the machine-made tornado.

It was times likes these Ollie considered what he was doing with his life as a vigilante. On the one hand, he was standing up against tyrannical meta-humans, sticking up for his beliefs, and fighting the good fight. On the other hand, he was being chased by a never-ending blast of wind that could throw him around the room like a ragdoll, possibly snapping his neck in the process, and for what? People that would've preferred him dead so that he wasn't inconveniencing their head-in-the-sand lifestyle?

Unfortunately, there wasn't much time to get into that old debate as he had a slight problem that required his attention. He was running out of room to run and the moment that happened he was going to get hit by Robo-Red over there. He had to do something to keep that from happening.

So he put a full-stop to his running, his feet skidding across the floor. Twisting his body around, he saw the approaching swirl drawing closer and closer. The moment he came to a stop, Ollie leaped forward, falling to his knees as he leaned as far back as he could. The wind tunnel crossed over his face and chest, missing him by mere inches.

Once he had safely avoided the attack, Ollie had drawn a trick arrow, notching it to his bow. Firing it, it flew low to the ground, where it came to land, its tip embedding itself on the floor just by Red Tornado's feet. A series of red glowing numbers flickered and changed on the side of the canister on the arrow's shaft until they counted down to zero. The moment they did, the arrow detonated, the explosion throwing Red Tornado off of his feet, and sending it flying backwards through the air.

Too bad it didn't stay that way.

Throwing its arms out, Red Tornado fired out its wind tunnels, using them to straighten itself out as it began to fall back to the ground. When its legs were underneath it, they too began to fire out wind, twin wind tunnels that soon combined together to form one larger wind tunnel that enveloped it from the hips down to its feet. Because of this, it was now hovering in midair, staring Ollie down.

Oh great, it could fly too.

Leaning forward, hands pointed down its body, Red Tornado unleash another burst of wind, flinging itself towards the Emerald Archer. Eyes widening, Ollie immediately pulled out another trick arrow, this one with the freezing feature. He fired it the moment he had it on the bowstring.

In response, the robot moved one of its arms out in front of it and waved it over its face, using its wind power to blow the arrow off course. Ollie didn't see where it landed, mostly because Red Tornado rammed into him, its hands grabbing onto him as it carried the blond man through the air until it slammed him against the wall. He let out a cry of pain as he felt an incredible force holding him there.

"You will be eliminated," Red Tornado said to him, staring into his eyes through white, lifeless lens.

"Funny," Ollie gasped out. "That's what all my exs tell me."

Aside from a basic grasp of manners, it seemed this robot also lacked humor. Swinging Ollie to a side, the robot sent him flying through the air until he crash landed on the ground, skidding across it until he came to a stop.

And that was also what his exs did when he made that remark.

"A little help," he grunted out loud as he began to push himself up. That wasn't too much to ask for, was it? He didn't think so. Of all the twisted mechanizations he had to fight with against the Regime, this one he wasn't quite sure he'd walk away from. Normal arrows were useless and that wind the robot produced could push aside his trick arrows. He was running out of options.

No, wait; that wasn't quite right. He just needed to create a scenario to use his arrows. He had done much the same with the explosive arrow, using Red Tornado's own wind attack as a distraction. He just had to do the same, only on purpose.

That wasn't too tall of an order.

Forcing himself onto his feet, Ollie looked haggardly at the approaching android, which had taken the time to actually land on the floor and begin walking towards him. "So I've been thinking," he announced to it, the robot not even breaking its stride. "With all of your abilities, my arrows can't quite get to you."

"That is correct," it intoned.

"So you must be thinking to yourself: why does this puny human keep doing something that clearly isn't working?"

"That question is not worth the output to compute."

 _Ooooh, harsh._ "Well, then, allow me to answer this question you hardly have time for." Pulling out his explosive trick arrows, Ollie began to fire them one at a time, always pulling out one from his quiver once he had fired another. Unlike his previous shots, however, they weren't going anywhere near the robot, which made it not even bother deflecting them. The ceiling, the floor, even the wall behind it was covered with his dwindling supply of explosive arrows.

"It's because of this," Ollie said, stopping his firing and flicking a small switch on the grip of his bow.

Suddenly, the arrows exploded. They weren't big ones, but they were loud and there were enough of them to cause the robot to stop in its tracks, turning its head from the floor to the ceiling to determine if it needed to evade the blasts.

Holding his bow sideways, Ollie notched two more arrows, one held between his index and middle fingers, the other between the middle and rings fingers. Because of this, they created an acute angle, small, but noticeable if you knew your way around a bow. "And now that I have your attention!" he shouted, right before he released the arrows.

Because of his shout, Red Tornado turned its head to look at him. By then, the rather ordinary arrows Ollie had fired were traveling too fast and were too close for it to dodge or deflect. His aim rang true as the arrows impaled the robot right in its eyes, puncturing through the lens, and sticking out of its head.

Immediately, Red Tornado began to spasm, its body twisting and turning as it tried poorly to remove the arrows. A gap appeared in its face, right about where the mouth would be, a bizarre screeching sound being made.

So robots could feel pain. Huh.

Though most of this android had been reinforced with steel, which made arrows rather useless, Ollie knew there had to be a weak point. Upon seeing the lens that made its eyes, he had realized the material there had to be different in comparison to its body. He was rather glad he was right in that regard.

However, there was a new opportunity before Ollie and he wasn't going to waste it again. Pulling out his last explosive arrow, he notched it and took aim, then coolly released. The arrow flew through the air until it hit its mark: Red Tornado's mouth. Though it did nothing to stop the sound, it was definitely lodged in there.

Until it exploded, that is. The robot's entire head was enveloped in flames as a loud _BOOM!_ rang out. For once, Red Tornado went still, at least the part of its body the blond man could see. As flames turned into smoke, it them fell to its knees, then collapsed completely onto the floor. The moment the smoke was clear, there wasn't even a head left.

That was Insurgents: 2, Regime: 0.

A low groan reached Ollie's ears, causing him to look towards Mr. Terrific. The man was beginning to shift where he sat. "Well, well, well, look who just got back from dreamland."

"Yeah, yeah," Terrific grunted as he started to move, gingerly getting to his feet. "Did I miss anything?"

"Oh, nothing too exciting. Just a robot that could use wind as a weapon. I blew up its head in case you were wondering."

"Good for you." Terrific rubbed a hand on the back of his head. "So now what do we do?"

Ollie looked to the computer terminal, seeing that it wasn't too damaged. "How does calling in the Calvary sound?"

"Calvary? What Calvary?" the dark-skinned man asked perplexed.

"Well, we're talking about the Regime here. I'm pretty sure their usurpation of power didn't set well with all of the governments in the world. Who's to say they aren't waiting for a moment like this to rise up?"

"It's at least worth trying," Terrific shrugged.

Oh, yes, yes it was.

* * *

This wasn't the first time Ra's al Ghul had laid eyes on the radiant Amazonian Princess. He had seen her rage first hand once and dismissed it as a mere triviality. This time he could do no such thing. The Amazon was not restrained to a wall and had the full arsenal of her abilities at her beck and call.

Perhaps she would provide him a worthy challenge.

As she shifted her feet on the sand, the toe of one of her red boots moved underneath the edge of a discarded shield. With a jerk of her foot, she sent the shield flying up into the air, where she snatched it, and placed it on her arm. She did not seek out further armament as she leaned forward and launched herself towards her foe, unleashing her battle cry.

She was quick; much quicker than Ra's had anticipated. Regardless, he threw himself out of her path, twisting his body to a side so that he could strike at her unguarded back as she passed by. His blade failed to touch her as her speed carried her right out of its reach, leaving him to only slice through air.

Princess Diana skidded to a stop across the sand, leaving trails in her wake. The moment she stopped, however, she twisted her torso around, swinging her shield arm out and wide. The shield slipped right off her arm and went spinning right for the older man, much to his surprise. Swinging both of his swords up and crossing them in front of him, he attempted to block the attack.

He was partially successful in this endeavor. The shield collided with his crossed blades, just as he had planned. The force in which it hit, though, pushed his weapons into his face, Ra's crying out as he was knocked off of his feet and sent falling to the ground. Stinging pain ripped into his face as the edges of his swords bit into his flesh, leaving shallow cut marks in their wake.

However, Ra's was not one to be bested so easily. The moment his back hit the ground, he was swinging his legs up, rolling from lower to upper back in an instant. Soon, he was back on his feet, raising his head up as he completed his roll.

Only for Wonder Woman to ram into him, leading with her shoulder. The brunt of the blow landed against his chest, Ra's once more being sent flying back. This time he crashed onto the beach, flipping head over feet and over and over until he ended up on his stomach.

The Demon's Head didn't get up as quickly this time. He laid there for a moment, gasping for air, spitting out grains of sand that clung to his lips. He had known of the Amazon's superior strength; yet, knowing was not the same as experiencing. She had held nothing back in that attack. Burning pain lanced throughout his chest, informing him that he had fractured, if not broken, ribs.

How inconvenient.

Forcing himself up, he soon stood on his feet, just as the Amazon stormed towards him. Raising his arms, he held a stance as he waited for his opponent to enter his reach. The moment she did, he lashed out with a sword, swinging it for her shoulder. In response, she raised her arm up and blocked the strike, his sword clashing against her bracer.

Undeterred, he held his other sword high above his head before swinging it down for her head. She blocked this too as she moved her other arm above her head, performing a high block. Seeing an opening, Ra's lunged forward, thrusting for her face with his sword.

In response, she swung a hand up and across, using her palm to slap against the flat side of the thrusting blade, pushing it away. Keeping her arm crossed, she leaped forward, swinging the arm out a moment later. The back of her hand collided with the side of Ra's face, stopping his forward progress and throwing him backwards.

This time he managed to stay on his feet, stumbling with his steps until he managed to regain his footing. All of this occurred in spite of the burning pain in his chest with every breath he took. Unfortunately, he did not have time to be consumed by this as the Amazon was on the attack, throwing her other fist right for his head.

Ducking low, Ra's avoided the blow, lashing out with one of his blades. He finally struck true as his sword cut right into the armor at the woman's stomach, drawing blood as he completed the swing.

In an instant, Wonder Woman had jumped away, putting some distance between them. One of her hands was pressed to her stomach to stanch the blood. Eyeing the wound and the amount of blood he saw, he was sad to say it was a shallow one, a flesh wound at best. Still, it was enough to put the Amazon on her guard.

"It has been quite some time since I last saw you, Amazonian," Ra's greeted her then. He needed for her to drop her guard again, only this time he would go for a deadlier strike. To do that, he needed to prey on her emotions—a simple endeavor.

"Not nearly long enough," Wonder Woman spat out in response. "How dare you soil this land?"

"I could say the same of you," Ra's replied evenly. "I once believed that you would be the driving force that would save this planet from the human race, only to be disappointed when you began contaminating the environment for the 5-U-93-R."

"That is no reason for someone as evil as you to show yourself. You should have remained in hiding."

"The Great Ra's al Ghul does not hide," the older man snapped back. "I have lived in this world for centuries; I have long since learned of the necessity of indirect action."

"And I have millennia," she countered. "Age is not a determining factor for wisdom."

"You may have more years, perhaps, but you spent most of those hidden from the world. That is no way to live one's life; your departure from this island is evidence of that."

"Neither is sending one's child out to do their dirty work."

Ra's clenched his jaw. How _dare_ this creature invoke the image of his daughter? "I promise you, Amazon, before this day is out, I will raze Themyscira to the ground. You have robbed me of my flesh and blood; I will now take away your culture's legacy, one of hypocrisy and isolation."

Princess Diana's face darkened. "For those words, I will personally rip your head from your shoulders."

And then she charged at him, arms pumping at her sides. Waiting until the last moment, Ra's then spun to a side, dropping low as he swung his sword out in an attempt to slice open her hamstring as she passed by him. Seeing this, Wonder Woman leaped off of the ground, soaring through the air passed him and beyond his blade's reach.

Coming to a landing, she dropped to one knee before she shot back up onto her feet, an Amazonian spear in one hand. Spinning around as she reversed her grip on the weapon's shaft, she drew her arm back before throwing it forward, sending the spear flying towards Ra's.

Moving both of his swords to one side as he leaned in the same direction, he then swung them up one at a time, the first striking the spear at its neck, knocking it away from him. The second sword collided further down the shaft to make sure the back end didn't smack him across the face.

By then, Wonder Woman was practically on top of him, fist drawn back and ready to be thrown. In response, Ra's thrust with the first sword to strike the spear, which caused the Amazon to jerk to one side. She was too slow to completely dodge the thrust though, the blade biting into her shoulder as it passed by, leaving another shallow cut in its wake.

Not content with such wound, Ra's fully extended his thrusting arm out, and thus his sword, before swinging a side slash at his foe. Wonder Woman blocked this in spite of her wound, her bracer clashing against his steel.

Before he could strike with his other sword, however, the Amazonian Princess suddenly shot her other hand out, grabbing onto the front of his armor by the collar. Pulling him forward, she then lunged forward, leading with her head. The top of her skull collided with his forehead, which caused an explosion of stars before his eyes, leaving him stunned and crying out in pain.

This left him blind to the Amazon releasing him as she leaned backwards, raising up a leg. Kicking out with it, the bottom of her foot slammed right into his solar plexus, sending him sailing backwards through the air. The bottom of his boots grazed against the top of the sandy beach until gravity forced him down. Throwing his arms out wide, Ra's managed to maintain his balance as he came to a stop.

Unfortunately, much to Ra's chagrin, Wonder Woman was no longer in front of him. It was as if she had vanished while his eyes were closed from the headbutt. Immediately, alarms were going off in his head. She was still here, somewhere, of that he had no doubt. He knew she was a warrior at heart and a warrior always sought out a foe's weakest point. For a seasoned swordsman as Ra's al Ghul, that meant only one place.

Spinning around, Ra's moved his swords to assume a defensive stance, only to be a moment too late. While he had correctly guessed the Amazon had moved behind him, his accumulated injuries had slowed him down enough for her to impale a spear right through his body. A choked gasp left his lips as his felt the sharp spear enter his body and exit out his back, blood trickling down the shaft.

Kneeling down in front of him was Wonder Woman, her hands on the spear's shaft. "You are finished, Little Man."

Ra's didn't even respond as he stumbled back a step, only to lose his footing and fall onto his back. Because of the spear head sticking out from his back, the ground pushed it back into his body, causing searing pain as the spear moved within him. He let out a strangled cry, specks of blood flying out of his mouth.

And then the Amazon was standing beside him, a hand on the spear. With one tug, she removed it from his stomach, then moved the tip to his neck. "I have fought many warriors in my time," she spoke to him, "and I find you quite lacking."

Taunting a fallen foe? So be it. Ra's had been in such a position before many a time, so he could not fault his vanquisher. Though if she thought she would have the last laugh, so to speak, then she was sorely mistaken.

"Though I have been felled," he said softly, "my will shall be done regardless."

The dark-haired woman narrowed her eyes. "No, your will ends here."

He tilted his head towards her, a haughty look appearing on his face. "Do you honestly believe this is the end? Ask yourself this: why would anyone attack your island?"

"Greed, evil," she immediately rattled off. "It does not take much to divine your reasons."

"Such simplicity. The Detective was right about you."

A scowl appeared on the Amazon's face. "Do not speak of Bruce to me, you vile monster."

"If you would humor me, Amazon, perhaps you will realize just how much of a fool you are," Ra's retorted. "It is widely known how you keep yourself at the Kryptonian's side. It is nearly impossible to separate you; yet, here you are."

His words must have reached her as he saw hesitation in her eyes. "I can truthfully say that it was my idea to attack your island, the inspiration for it was not my own. I truly wish this was not the case, considering how obvious it is to remove you from Superman's side. You blinded yourself the moment you heard of your island's bloodied shores, abandoning your post." He turned his head away as he looked up to the cloudless sky. "As I said, my will shall be done regardless."

He waited for the finishing blow because he knew it would come. It never did though, as he caught sight of the Amazon taking off into flight from the corner of his eye. A bubble of dark humor welled up within him and he did not resist the urge to chuckle.

Indeed, the day would be ultimately his, regardless of when the Amazon returned to Neo-Metropolis. The Detective would have won the day and sealed their victory. That thought comforted him as he took in and released his last breath.

* * *

As I've mentioned to some reviewers throughout the story, the battle armor Batman is wearing is the one he uses in the Injustice 2 video game. I add a couple more details to it, like the outlining of the Bat Symbol, but it's largely the same.

To Guest: Well, that's up to whatever you want it to be. But I can say what that what he saw was the same thing he saw the first time he was dosed with fear toxin in Genesis.

To FlackAttack: Well damn, you guessed that twist in the nick of time


	36. A God Falls

It had been a long time since they had been trying to out-maneuver each other. Batman couldn't really recall the last time he had used something out of his quickly-depleting utility belt, nor Superman actually trying to dodge his blows. No more skills, no more techniques, they were just wailing on each other, matching punch for punch without much regard for their own safety.

Batman's head jerked to his left as the Kryptonian's fist smashed against his cheek and chin. Spit flew from his mouth and he stumbled a step, but that was all the ground he was willing to give. Immediately, he lashed out, throwing his own fist and slamming it into Superman's face. His foe stumbled back a step, but he recovered almost immediately, throwing another haymaker that resulted in the vigilante snapping his head to the right this time. Undeterred, he retaliated with his other fist, forcing Superman's head to jerk to a side as well. Back and forth they went, unable to dodge, unwilling to give up pummeling the other.

Gritting his teeth as another blow knocked him back a step, Batman had to take a moment to fight through the pain he was feeling throughout his body. He hadn't taken a beating like this in a long time, somewhere around the time he had first begun training. He was older now and his body couldn't take the same amount of punishment as he could back then. The suit was helping in protecting him, but even that would only do so much after awhile.

Seeing Superman's next blow coming, Batman immediately ducked down, the arm flying over his head. Springing forward while keeping low, he rammed his fist into his opponent's wide open stomach, hearing the dark-haired man gasp as the air in his lungs was forced out. Taking advantage of Superman's daze, the vigilante shifted to one side so that he could send a punch right into the dark-haired man's side. One punch landed, then a another, the dark-clad man rammed his fist into the man's kidney, making him flinch back from each blow.

All of this seemed to have happened in slow motion. Both men were deaf to their surroundings except for the grunts they forced the other to make. As his sense of time began to speed up, the vigilante let out grunt after grunt as he switched arms, returning to pummeling Superman's stomach, pounding fist after fist into his abdomen. Each blow forced the other man back a step, keeping him stunned.

Finally, for the coup de gras, Batman swung a fist upward, landing a vicious uppercut to Superman's chin. His head snapped backwards immediately as he stumbled several steps backwards, even turning around to leave his back vulnerable to him. That was an invitation the dark-clad man could not pass up.

Forcing himself forward, the vigilante prepared to perform a flying kick, only for Superman to spin right back around, swinging another fist at him. He saw it coming, clear as day, yet there was nothing he could do at that last moment. He took the brunt of the blow to his solar plexus, this time being his turn to lose his breath as he stumbled backwards.

Raising a leg, Superman then kicked out with his, landing it again Batman's open torso. The Dark Knight was sent flying backwards until he landed on the floor, his back hitting it hard as he skidded to a stop.

For a moment, he had a chance to catch his breath. The next moment, he saw the Kryptonian above him in midair, his other leg raised up and ready to stomp him into the ground. Eyes widening, Batman rolled to a side, Superman's foot smashing down the floor, causing it to crumble beneath his boot.

Rolling over and over, Batman ended up on his hands and knees, pushing himself up as fast as he could. He had lost count of the number of body blows he had taken and if it weren't for the kryptonite-fueled suit he wore, he was pretty sure his internal organs would be paste right about now.

Which reminded him: he was a trained martial artist. Why the hell had he fallen into this absurd punching contest? His teachers would bow their heads in shame had they seen the way he was fighting, especially since he wasn't as young as he used to be.

Batman raised his arms up just in time for Superman to close the distance between them again. As he swung his latest haymaker, the Dark Knight blocked it, pushing the fist away. Seeing that the dark-haired man had his other fist already drawn, he waited to see it be thrown, sliding to a side as he shot up his other arm, his hand meeting up with Superman's arm just below the wrist. Extending his own arm, he pushed the fist away, bracing up against a backswing should it have come.

Pivoting on his feet, he then spun in a circle around Superman, ending up with their backs facing each other, though he stood a step to a side of his opponent. Raising up his arm, he bent it at the elbow and then jerked it back, ramming the elbow into the back of Superman's skull. He heard a cry of pain and Superman stumbling forward, but he didn't give chase. He needed to catch his breath and this seemed as good of a time as any to do so.

Superman seemed to have the same thoughts as well as he slowed himself to a stop, standing up straight once he realized he wasn't been followed. Slowly, he turned around and stared the vigilante down, breathing heavily. "You're not holding back," he remarked casually.

"You aren't either," Batman grunted back.

"Can't say I'm surprised. You only restrained yourself with criminals, never against friends. I'm pretty sure that had I not taken the 5-U-93-R, you would've fractured my skull by now."

The dark-clad man shrugged. "Are you complaining? You could do that with a flick of your finger once."

Superman leveled his gaze at him. "I can still do that even now. Do you honestly think I'm going full strength with you? Please."

He was trying to bluff him; Batman knew one when he saw one. Considering Superman was actually panting, chest rapidly expanding and contracting as sweat glistened down the side of his face, he was definitely giving it his all.

"I will admit, that little 'super-suit' of yours is sturdier than I would've thought. It's a shame I have to break it once we're through here."

"You talk as if you're going to win."

"Of course, I am. That's because heroes always win; I'm the hero and you're the traitor to the cause. It's how every story ends."

"Except when the hero has blinded himself to his every atrocity he's committed; when he's the only one who hasn't realized he's become the villain," Batman countered.

"Using that old rallying cry by the Insurgency?" Superman tsked as he shook his head. "I expected much better out of you, Bruce; I really did. If I thought trying to talk you down was the way to go, I would do it—but that's not going to happen, is it?"

When Batman didn't respond, the Kryptonian continued. "There's only one way this fight is going to end between us. One of us is going to have to kill the other—there's no other way around it. We've already established that you won't kill, but I will. What does that tell you?"

"That you're overrating yourself," the vigilante countered. "You're also forgetting about one little thing."

"And what's that?"

It was Batman's turn to level his gaze at his opposite number. "I don't give up."

His foe nodded once, a sign of acceptance of what the other man said. "Then be prepared to die."

Superman charged at him then, fists drawn back and ready to go. Batman raised both of his arms up, ready to block whatever was thrown at him.

Immediately, the vigilante found himself throwing both of his arms from side to side, alternating between which arm blocked Superman's blow while the other braced the other against its force. For every step forward the Kryptonian took, Batman took one back.

Then, out of nowhere, as Batman blocked a punch, he then quickly extended the same arm so he could grab onto Superman's arm, refusing to let him draw it back. This didn't deter the man from throwing his other fist, which the vigilante latched onto as well. Holding both arms out, he then pulled down on them as he jumped up, keeping one leg up and bent at the knee.

A moment later and he rammed his knee into Superman's face, causing him to stumble back a step. Releasing his hold, Batman dropped back to the floor, then bounced forward, aiming to deliver yet another body blow.

Only this time, Superman wasn't as defenseless as he thought. The Man of Steel caught his fist, refusing to let it go. In fact, he used it to hold the vigilante still, not letting him pull away. He raised his other hand up, throwing the fist soon after.

In return Batman caught it, holding it off as he felt the strain throughout his arm. Almost as if they were thinking the same thing, they maneuvered their hands from either a fist or holding a fist, to holding the other's hand, fingers entwined with each other. Both men poured as much strength as they could into pushing against the other, letting out a grunt every so often.

Batman could feel his feet edging back across the floor, which he immediately corrected by shifting it back into place, only for it to start sliding back again. Superman was doing the same thing as well as they pushed and strained against each other.

"You can't win," Superman gritted out through clenched teeth.

Batman wished he could've said something witty to that, but it was taking everything he had just to hold off the Kryptonian. The muscles in his arms were burning and screaming from the strain, which he had no idea if the same was happening to his opponent. His teeth clenched down hard as he continued to struggle.

Right up until a green-glowing blade exploded out of Superman's chest.

Droplets of blood spattered against Batman's face and chest, his eyes widening much like Superman's. Both men stopped pushing against each other as they looked down to the blade. They then looked back to each other, still in shock.

Then Superman dropped to his knees, revealing Cassandra standing behind him, hands on the hilt of the blade. The Kryptonian leaned forward, which caused Batman to dart out of the way, watching as the man collapsed onto the floor.

Yet, Batman found himself looking in horror at Cassandra. Her mask was no longer on her face, so he could see her cold stare clearly. It was the same one she had worn when he first met her, an apprentice undergoing her final trial to becoming an assassin. The very sight of it sent a cold shiver down his spine.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

The dark-haired woman looked to him. Her expression never changed even as she answered him in a soft, blunt tone.

"I saved your life."

* * *

Over and over, Starfire pumped her arms back in forth, throwing starbolt after starbolt. None of them hit their target as they maneuvered through the air gracefully, fluttering from one side of the room to the other.

Starfire was unsure of how long she had been at this, but she was slowly coming to the conclusion that this was not working. She had thought long-range attacks would be the way to beat Hawkgirl, but she was not one to be taken down so easily. Not one of the starbolts had hit her, which was quite concerning.

Oh, and the Thanagarian was rushing towards her.

Perking her head up, it took Starfire a moment to realize just what thought had crossed her mind, right before the head of a mace slammed into her face. She was sent flying backwards as pain throbbed in her face. Before she knew it, she had crashed into one of the walls of the parking garage.

Concrete crumbled against her back until open air buffeted against her streaking form. Starfire cracked open her eyes and saw that she had been launched out of the parking garage, leaving a crumbling hole in her wake. She was now sailing through the air backwards, her arms and legs trailing after her.

Then, flying out of the hole, was the reason why she was not flying of her own will. Holding her mace low, wings spread out, Hawkgirl chased after her, eyes focused directly on her.

Shaking off her daze, Starfire stopped her unintentional flight, drawing a hand up and above her head. A starbolt came to life in her palm and she threw it at her approaching adversary.

In response, Hawkgirl swing her mace up, knocking the starbolt away as if it were nothing to her. Before Starfire could charge up another one, the Thanagarian was upon her, swinging her mace at her. Immediately, she flung herself to aside to avoid the attack, being successful in that endeavor.

That was until Hawkgirl performed a backswing and the head of her mace slammed into her stomach. Once again, Starfire found herself being flung away not on her own power.

Hawkgirl was proving most difficult. Though she had expected a fight out of a seasoned Thanagarian warrior, she had not expected it to be _this_ tough. Faintly she wondered if it had been such a good idea to change sides as she had.

"Haaaaaaa!"

Jerking her head up, she saw Hawkgirl right on top of her. Before she could react, the redhead's mace nailed her in the side of her head, sending her careening back into the parking garage. She hit the wall just below an opening, bursting through it as if it were nothing. Her body then collided with the concrete floor, which sent her bouncing off of it several times until she came to a stop.

This was not good. Grimacing, the Tamaranian slowly got onto her unsteady feet. That had really hurt and she was quite through with being pushed around. Her starbolts were not working on this foe, that much she was certain. It was time to change tactics.

That was when Hawkgirl soared into the parking garage. The winged woman had entered a short distance to the Tamaranian's right, which caused her to turn so she could follow. Hawkgirl flew until she reached a point parallel with the red-haired woman, then made a sharp turn, rushing towards her. With another war cry, the Thanagarian swung her mace towards her head.

Immediately, Starfire raised up one hand and caught the mace with her bare hand, stopping her attacker in midair. Green eyes widened as the Thanagarian looked from her imprisoned weapon to Starfire's serious face.

Before the winged woman could react, Starfire threw a punch to her face, one that sent her flying backwards from the force of the blow. She flew so far and so fast that she plowed right through a cement wall, leaving a hole in her wake.

It wasn't well known on Earth, but Tamaranians were very strong. This was most likely because she had grown to prefer the use of her starbolts; yet, physical strength was abundant in her people's graceful forms. It had been quite some time since Starfire had tested to see just how strong she was, but she was quite confident she had more than enough to...how did the saying go? Wipe the butt with Hawkgirl's floor? Yes, that was it.

Walking to the hole, she looked through it, finding a ramp below. Straight ahead was another wall, one that was covered in cracks. Looking down from it, Starfire found Hawkgirl lying on the ramp face down, slowly starting to stir. Stepping out into thin air, the Tamaranian hovered for a moment before floating down to land a short distance away from her opponent.

By the time she had landed, Hawkgirl had gotten back to her feet. "Damn, that hurt," she said as she cradled her jaw with one hand. "You hit as hard as Diana."

"I am quite strong," Starfire informed her jovially. "I recommend surrender before more harm comes to you."

The Thanagarian glared at her. "Yeah, right; I'm not the one that's going to get hurt."

The winged woman then lunged at her throwing a fist at her. Starfire merely raised a hand up and caught the strike, holding the fist with a vice-like grip. Without breaking stride, she formed a fist with her other hand and swung it up, landing an uppercut to Hawkgirl's chin, which sent her flying rapidly up towards the ceiling. She watched as Hawkgirl slammed into the roof hard, before dropping back down to the ground. Taking a step back, she waited a moment before she leaned to one side, raising one leg up. With excellent timing, she swung a kick in time to hit the falling Hawkgirl with it, sending her careening through the air, where she eventually dropped low enough to bounce off the floor. She went into a rough tumble until she came to a stop. Weakly she tried to raise her head up, but then collapsed to the floor.

"Hooray!" Starfire cried out as she jumped for joy. She had bested her opponent!

Excitedly, she looked around, searching for where her new comrade, Element Woman, was. "Oh, Element Woman!" she shouted, head turning this way and that. "I have successfully defeated Hawkgirl! Do you require any assistance?"

That was when a stream of what looked like gas moved into her sight. It flowed from somewhere behind the red-haired woman and moved around in front of her, then took on a solid form. Soon, Element Woman was standing before her, looking just as excited as she was. "Really? You did? Super!"

"Yes, I did! How about you? Did you fare well?" Starfire asked.

"I did too! I beat Green Lantern and beat him good, I did. This is so awesome!"

"Yes! Totally awesome!" Starfire then paused as a thought occurred to her. "Now what do we do?"

Element Woman stared at her for a moment before she ran a hand through her pink hair. "I'm not entirely sure. I guess we should contact one of the others and see if they need our help."

"That is a great suggestion! Please, get a hold of our comrades and let them know that Element Woman and Starfire are ready to lend them a hand!"

The pink-haired woman squealed with joy. "This is so exciting! I so have to write about this in my journal!"

* * *

Despite the cape and cowl he wore, there were many things the Batman feared. Being unable to stop a murder before his eyes, screwing up an investigation, destroying a man's life over a misunderstanding. A couple of these had happened admittedly, but he had done his best to minimize their occurrences.

It was only a couple years ago, maybe more, when something new was added. Seeing a young girl going back to the only thing she knew and kill someone. He had taught and struggle with that side of Cassandra since the moment he had taken her in. For twenty years he had been a success.

Now it laid in shattered pieces along with Superman's body.

"Save my life?" Batman repeated. "You just killed a man, Cassandra. How is that saving me?"

Cassandra looked away from him, her eyes falling onto the fallen Kryptonian. His blood was pooling around his body, forming a puddle around him. "You wouldn't understand," she practically whispered.

 _No._ Batman moved to her and roughly grabbed her chin, forcing her head up so that he could look her in the eyes. "Explain it," he demanded. "Explain it until I do."

There was a flicker of life in her haunted eyes. She swallowed deeply. "I came in here and found you fighting him. You didn't see me; he didn't see me. But I could tell—you were going to lose. He was overpowering you, slowly, but he was doing it. I...I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let him hurt you." She looked pleadingly at him. "I know that if you were going to stop him, you would have to kill him and I couldn't let you do that. Superman said so himself...and...I couldn't let you taint yourself."

"So you killed him instead." That was not a satisfactory answer, not to him. She must have come in right as he and Superman were trying to overpower each other. While it was true they were on their last legs, there was still plenty of fight left, he could feel it. But now, there was no way to find out.

Tearing his eyes away from the woman, he looked to the weapon she had used, staring at its green glow. It didn't take him long to realize what it was. "You took this from the Cave," he said as he returned his eyes to her. He had seen the way she had stared at the kryptonite sword, almost admiring its craftsmanship. Now he was certain she was planing on how she could use it.

Cassandra nodded. "When you went to distract Wonder Woman, I took it. I thought eventually we would meet with Superman, and I wanted to make sure we were ready for it."

Never mind that she probably didn't need the kryptonite—considering Superman's lack of superpowers—she had carried a weapon with the determination to use it. After everything he had taught her, how could she do this?!

Apparently, she could read him, even after everything. "I know you are angry. I know why you did everything you could to keep me from...killing...someone." She looked down at her hand, stained with Kryptonian blood. "This feeling...there's this feeling. It's...I feel sick. I...I can't...it's too much. It won't go away."

She fought back the emotions that were welling up with her, her face twisting with remorse as tears began to leak from her eyes. Immediately, Batman pulled her to him and she began sobbing against his shoulder, her body trembling against his. Her hand grabbed onto him, refusing to let him go. He could feel how tight her grip was, even through his suit.

"This won't ever be right," she cried. "I can't be alright."

Batman shushed her, gently cooing into her ear. A part of him was glad to see this; as heartbreaking as it was, he could see and feel and hear her regret. She hadn't embraced this murder like every assassin before her. Her mind, her body rejected the siren's call, much to his relief.

"But you can still save me."

Her tone had changed, catching his attention. Slowly, Batman drew back, looking at her in bewilderment. Gone were the tears and a stoic look was on Cassandra's face. Trails of tears down her cheeks was the only sign of her crying present. "You can stop this—all of this. You can wash this blood off of my hands."

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"When you go back in time," Cassandra spoke slowly, "you can erase of this. None of this has to happen."

"It's not that easy," the vigilante warned her. "I can't forget this."

"All the more reason for you to keep teaching me; to never give up on me."

Batman looked away from her. There was too much going on right now for this talk. They were both emotional right now and they needed to get some kind of control. They needed to get away from the body, one he was sure that would haunt his dreams for many nights to come. "Let's get out of here," he told her as he began to walk away.

Cassandra didn't move. He found this out when he felt his arm being tugged behind him. Turning his head to look, he saw a resolute expression on her face. "Are we going to be alright?" she demanded.

"Now isn't the time to ask that," he warned her.

"Are we going to be alright?" she repeated more forcefully.

He turned to fully face her, absently turning off the kryptonite power source to depower the suit. The green light faded until the armor was all black. "Now isn't the time. Ask me again when we're long gone from here."

She tilted her head up, almost defiantly. "I will."

"Good."

This time when he turned away, both of them were walking to the door. It was shut closed, which made the Dark Knight wonder how Cassandra had gotten through without either Superman, or him knowing. It was a testament to her ability for her to do that.

They came to a stop, Batman reaching a hand out of the control panel. However, before he could enter the code, the door slid open.

Standing in the doorway was Diana, a frantic look on her face. Her blue eyes fell onto him and Cassandra before darting to look over their shoulders, zeroing in on Superman's body. Her eyes widened as they fell back to the two vigilantes before finding the blood on Cassandra's hands.

 _Oh_ —

Before Batman could react, a powerful blow smacked him across the face. For a moment he blacked out, but when he came too, he had crashed into the wall and fell onto the floor, somehow ending up on his butt, legs sprawled out in front of him. There was a sharp crackle, a brief moment of static flashing over the lens of his cowl before sight was restored.

By then he heard the screams. Shaking off his daze, Batman saw Diana lashing out at Cassandra, who was doing her best to duck, bob and weave, and otherwise avoid the Amazon's rapid punches. The older woman pushed the younger one back, Cassandra actually blocking the blows, her face twisting with pain from each block.

Immediately, Batman hit the button to power up his suit, only for nothing to happen. He hit it again and again, even as Diana suddenly dropped low to the floor, a leg extended out as she swung it forward and kicked out Cassandra's legs. The younger woman was flung backwards, falling to land on the floor on her head, only for her to catch herself with one hand and go into a one-handed flip. She ended up back on her feet, crouching low as Diana launched herself at her.

It suddenly dawned on Batman why the suit wasn't powering up. When Diana had hit him, she had hit him so hard that damage was done to the system when he had hit the wall. That had been why he heard that crackling sound. _Goddamn it!_

Reaching to her belt, Cassandra pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the approaching Amazon, who batted it aside with a wave of her arm, her bracer knocking the projectile away from her. With her other arm, she threw a fist, one that went over the young woman's shoulder as she leaned to a side. Shooting a hand up, she grabbed onto the Amazon's outstretched arm and used it to swing her lower body up, ramming both of her feet into her foe's stomach, the two women hovering over the floor, one above, the other below.

Diana instantly lost her breath, Cassandra letting go as she dropped the short distance to the floor. As for Diana, she careened forward, only to catch her breath and stop. Whipping around, she then launched herself forward once more.

It was so fast. Before Cassandra could even spin around to defend herself, the older woman rammed her shoulder into her, causing her to cry out as she was pitched forward. Before she could go too far, Diana grabbed onto the cape that trailed behind her, using it to swing Cassandra around. They spun in a circle until Diana arced the girl high above her head, and then slammed her down hard on the ground.

She...she was trying to kill her. Horror overwhelmed the Dark Knight. In this state, Diana was nigh unbeatable. She had the strength, the skill, and the will to do whatever she pleased and that was to kill Cassandra. Every blow Cassandra had blocked had been Diana using her full-strength, holding nothing back. The Amazon was even using her reflexes to their fullest as she moved faster and reacted faster more to overwhelm the younger woman.

He couldn't let this continue any further.

Unfortunately, he needed power and enough of it to stop the Amazon cold. The kryptonite-powered suit could do that, but that was not an option anymore. Damn it all! He needed power and he needed it—

Wait...he could still get it!

A hand dropped to his belt and Batman clumsily opened one of the pouches. Reaching in, he pulled out the super pill he had taken from the guard back in the cell block. This wasn't really his style, but there wasn't any other choice. Shoving it into his mouth, he dry swallowed it.

Diana pulled Cassandra up by her cape, holding her up so that she could get a look at her face. There was a murderous gaze in her eyes and she snarled at the girl, right before she drew a fist back and rammed it once, twice, three times into her stomach. Cassandra cried out in a mixture of pain and a choked gasp, right before Diana released her cape and she fell to the floor. Somehow, she ended up on her knees.

That's when it hit Batman. Strength, power, it flooded his body, emerging from within his core and filling out every nook and cranny, going down his legs, extending out into his fingertips. This...this was amazing! In an instant he had pushed himself up, getting his feet under him.

And then Diana stood behind Cassandra. Reaching out with both hands, she placed one against the younger woman's jawbone, the other at her temple.

Batman froze.

At that moment, Cassandra's eyes found his. They were filled with fear and sadness, a silent plea begging him to help her.

Then with sharp jerk, Diana twisted her head to a side, her neck snapping loudly.

It started low, but grew louder with every passing second. Staring at the whites of Cassandra's eyes, a scream ripped out of Batman's mouth, one that threatened to never stop.

* * *

To Guest: Pretty sure the last scene answered your question


	37. Wrath Of The Bat

The image played over and over in his head. Diana stood behind Cassandra, hands gripping her head tightly. Then with a twist, the girl's neck was broken. The sound echoed in his head on an endless loop.

The pain was too much.

"No!" he shouted hoarsely, wildly. It was loud at first, but with every subsequent no, his voice grew weaker. "No! No, no, no, no!" A sob tore out of Batman's lips as he leaned over, arms bracing his upper body off of the floor.

This feeling, this sense of despair and violation—he hadn't felt that since he and his parents walked down the wrong alleyway. Though the ground was not stained with blood and loose pearls, the lifeless body of someone he cared for laid there, burning itself into his mind and memory.

Revulsion worked up his throat, choking his sobs, bile turning everything rancid within his mouth. He couldn't breath, he couldn't think. It was all too much.

And then a hand laid itself on his shoulder, calming, comforting. "It's alright, Bruce," Diana murmured to him, kneeling in front of his hunched body. "Everything will be okay."

Something familiar flickered. It was a feeling he had long since knew and it grew bigger, louder, and began to burn throughout him. Pure, hot rage flooded the vigilante's his very sight turning red. The floor was red; the walls were red; Diana was red. A shrieking howl rang in his ears, a vague shape forming on the floor. Some sort of monster in red and black, a symbol blazing on its chest. Despite the howling filling his ears, he could make out a clear, deep, monstrous voice screaming at him.

 _Vengeance!_

Yes, vengeance. Every fiber of his being demanded it. And the very person he wanted it from was kneeling before him, pretending as if she hadn't torn apart his world. That she was going to soothe away his sorrow and make everything better.

How dare she.

 _How dare she!_

He didn't feel himself move; he didn't feel his legs pushing himself up, or his arm swinging. He did feel his fist push up against Diana's chin, felt her head push backwards. All of this felt as if he were moving in slow motion.

And then time sped up. In one fluid motion, Batman rose onto his feet, swinging an uppercut that nailed Diana beneath her chin. Her head snapped back before the full force of his blow sent her flying headfirst through the air, where she hit the floor hard. For a moment they were frozen, Batman on his feet, one arm raised high above his head, Diana lying in a heap of stunned body parts.

The Amazon was still for a moment before her body shifted. Slowly, she pushed herself up, her arms bracing her upper body off of the floor. She stared at him with astonishment, unaware of the bruise that was forming under her chin. "B-Bruce?" she stammered.

"Get...up," he growled.

"What?"

"Get. Up," he repeated louder, taking a threatening step towards her.

"I don't understand," she said as she began to push herself up fully, though she remained seated. "Why did you hit me?" She hesitated, her eyes squinting for only a moment before they widened. "Bruce, your eyes. They're...red..."

He couldn't take it anymore. Letting out an enraged roar, Batman charged at the murderous Amazon, her eyes widening as his approach. She scrambled to get her legs beneath her, moving into a kneeling stance, her arms rising up in time as he lashed out with a leg. Her bracers took the full brunt of his kick, but the force flung her backwards and up, sending her sailing until her back collided with the wall. This time she didn't collapse to the floor, managing to land on her feet where she retained her balance.

"I said GET. UP!" Batman bellowed, his voice bouncing off of the walls.

"Bruce, this isn't you," she immediately said, no longer looking like an innocent doe, but a battle-hardened warrior. "You need to stop."

"No!" he screamed, jabbing a finger towards the dark-haired woman. "You needed to stop before you laid your hands on her! We're way past that now, Diana!"

"Be reasonable," she tried again, holding her arms out in front of her defensively. "I don't want to hurt you."

 _You're too late._ "If there's one thing you should take away from this, one thing your stubborn, sanctimonious head allows you to, let it be this," he told her.

"Diana, I'm gonna kill you."

* * *

Water surrounded him. Fear overwhelmed Jaime's mind, terrorizing him as he gasped for air, only for water to fill his mouth, attempting to suffocate him. His body thrashed around, fighting for survival as he drowned. He was at the bottom of the ocean, being crushed by the pressure and he couldn't...couldn't…

He could breath. Huh.

Jaime went still, just floating in the water and he simply took a breath. Instead of water rushing down his throat and into his lungs, he was actually getting air. In fact, he wasn't even feeling the massive pressure of the ocean. It felt like he was in a swimming pool instead of a couple miles from the surface.

"This is so cool," he said, his voice slightly distorted by the water. He didn't really have to think too hard why he was not the size of a crushed-up beer can—the Scarab was protecting him, allowing him to adapt to this harsh environment.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to swim.

Staring at the sight of Atlantis, he marveled at it splendor. It had probably been thousands of years since anyone had seen this city above the waves. What the people had done to the city to make it survive and thrive was miraculous.

His admiration quickly ended though, when he noticed someone pass through the same doorway he had been kicked out of. Even from this distance, he could make out Aquaman practically jetting towards him, trident in hand.

Oh, yeah, it was definitely time to figure out how to swim.

Immediately, the youth thought of his wings, said wings springing out from his back. He began flapping them rapidly, but quickly discovered that insect wings, while great in the air, were useless underwater. It was at that moment he felt alarmed, especially as Aquaman was rapidly closing the distance between them, leading with his trident to impale the young man.

 _Scarab! Help!_ he cried in his mind. _We need to move!_

As if in answer, he felt something on his back change and the next thing he knew, he shot upward through the water, narrowly avoiding the charging Atlantean King. A trail of bubbles were left in his wake; he wasn't sure how they were made, but he wasn't going to ask questions since they were currently helping him out.

Turning his head around, Jaime saw Aquaman make a U-turn, suddenly swimming upward before he began heading right for the youth again. "Oh man!" Jaime exclaimed before he jetted away, forcing the Atlantean to chase him.

Every so often, the teen would look over his shoulder as he rocketed through the water, always making sure he knew right where his pursuer was. The distance that had originally been shrinking between them had evened out, neither one closing the gap, or widening it. He wasn't sure which one he preferred.

However, this did provide him a good chance at striking back. Turning his body around so that his back faced the ocean floor, Jaime formed his energy blaster, his other hand gripping it right where his forearm should be. "Heeeyaaahhh!" he shouted as he began firing blast after blast at his opponent.

In response, Aquaman began moving to the left and then the right, deftly avoiding the energy blasts as they flew towards him. He didn't seem the least bit perturbed by them either, something that puzzled the boy. You would think if something was inconveniencing someone, they'd at least look annoyed.

And then the blond man pulled back, which confused him even further. Slowly down, Jaime stared as he saw Aquaman just floating there, as if he were waiting for something.

Wait, was he waiting for something?

As it turned out, yes, yes he was. It was the Scarab that picked up on it, sending all sorts of warning into his brain. Jerking his head from side to side, Jaime soon found the mother of all sharks bearing down on him, its mouth wide open, revealing row after row of very sharp teeth.

There wasn't time to do anything, even to scream. The shark plowed into Jaime, biting down with its sharp teeth into him. Or at least that would've happened had it not been for the alien armor covering him. Whatever it was made of, it was apparently shark-proof, something Jaime took great comfort in.

Regardless, he was dragged through the water as the shark continued to swim, not the least bit deterred by this surprising turn of events. Shaking its head from side to side, it tried to cut its way into his body, the teeth scraping against the black and blue armor. Despite the fact there were no punctures, it was still really uncomfortable for the teen as he was shaken like an empty salt shaker. Even if he wasn't eaten in chunks, the pressure by this monster's mouth alone would do something eventually, it was only a matter of time.

And then he slipped in the shark's mouth. It wasn't deeper into its mouth, thankfully, but more to a side. The sound of teeth scraping against his armor was cringe-worthy. However, because of this unexpected turn, Jaime found himself getting a decent look at the monster shark's eye.

Throwing his blaster out, he took aim at the eye and fired an energy blast. There was no wild scream from the shark, so much as the monster letting him go and jerking its head away, its body following after it. Blood poured out of the damaged eye, coloring the water in a stream of red. The youth was left floating alone, watching as the shark swam away, a trail of blood left in its wake.

Well, that hadn't ended too badly.

Suddenly, the Scarab sounded an alarm in his head. By now, he knew not to ignore the Scarab when it did this. Spinning around, he saw Aquaman closing in on him, leading with his trident once more. The young man only had enough time to form a shield with one of his arms before the blond man rammed into him, pushing him backwards through the water. The points of the trident scratched against the shield, much like the shark teeth had done on his body, with about the same result.

And then Jaime's back hit something hard. Gasping, bubbles of water erupted from his mouth, flowing upward. Still, he held his arm in place, not allowing himself to be left wide open for whatever Aquaman planned to do next.

Looking over his shoulder, Jaime found he was pressed right up against the dome surrounding Atlantis. He could practically see the floor from where he was, even with the noticeable crack behind his back. Still, that didn't mean anything if he couldn't fend off Aquaman. He had known the man was strong, but he was really putting his strength into this. The teen could feel the strain and burning in his shield arm. He needed to do something to change this.

 _C'mon, brain, think of something._

 _Any minute now._

 _Now would be a good time._

Pressure hit him, causing his head to smack against the dome. "Give it up, kid, you can't win," Aquaman told him, his voice ringing out surprisingly clear despite the water around them.

 _Oh yeah, sure, give up and let you kill me. Not gonna happen._ Jaime gritted his teeth. He might give up by default if he didn't come up with something to get this guy off of him. He couldn't go forward for obvious reasons—meaning he wasn't nearly as strong as Aquaman—and attempting to go to a side in either direction just might leave himself open. Going backwards wasn't an option either, since he doubted he could break whatever glass the dome was made of…

Wait a sec, there was a crack behind him, right? That had to be because of him hitting it eight seconds ago. Maybe if he hit it right, he could break through? Jaime would've shaken his head after thinking that nonsense idea. Yeah, that would work if he was maybe Superman. This thing was made to withstand the pressure of the bottom of the ocean—what could he do with the Scarab?

Well, actually a lot of things. Maybe the Scarab would have an idea? Putting a call out to it, he waited for it to give him something, anything that could help him out.

As it turned out, it did have an idea.

His free hand moved then, without his direction. Eyeing it, he saw his palm changing, forming some sort of circular panel. In fact, he saw smaller ones lining the bottom of his fingers as well. The hand then pressed down on the dome and he felt vibrations coming from it.

For a moment, he had no idea why this was happening. What were vibrations going to do with a glass dome? Even more puzzling, he could feel the vibrations changing, for lack of a better description. They grew stronger or weaker, almost as if the Scarab were searching for something. It wasn't until he heard more cracking that he realized what it was doing.

The changing vibrations strengths was the Scarab searching for a frequency, constantly adjusting until it found the right one that caused damage to the glass. It seemed it finally found one when more cracks began to form.

Aquaman, however, was not blind to this. From one side of the shield, he saw the blond man lean over, looking behind the youth. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

As if in answer, the dome cave out, a large hole forming as glass shattered. Instantly, Jaime felt himself sucked through the hole as water poured in with him, the same with Aquaman as he followed. While it had seemed like a good idea at the time, Jaime quickly realized just how high they were. As he pulled away from his opponent, his body twisted around as the ground rushed up towards him. The next thing he knew, he hit the floor hard, crying out as water crushed down hard on him. Aquaman landed soon after, his body rolling away after the collision.

Doing his best, Jaime began to crawl away from the torrent of water pouring on him, managing to get out of it. Unfortunately, his body felt battered and bruise, exhausted from what just happened.

Even worse, Aquaman didn't seem the least bit put out. Head tilted up, the youth saw the Atlantean back on his feet, marching towards him with trident in hand. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?!" he roared.

 _No, not really._

Aquaman stood in front of him, hefting up the trident. "I'll mount your head on my gate, a warning to all those who violate the sanctity of Atlantis!"

Well, that didn't tell him anything about what he had just done, or so the Atlantean claimed. You would've thought Aquaman would've lectured him about it and not leap to the threatening part. Someone needed to teach him about enraged villain speeches.

As much as Jaime wanted to comment about that, however, he couldn't. In fact, he didn't even have the energy to move. The fear that exploded within his gut screamed at him to do something, anything, but he couldn't find it in himself to do more than crawl. He began to tremble at what he knew as to come.

Which was when a ten ton shark passed through the hole in the dome and fell to the floor with its mouth wide open. Jaime didn't know of this, but he did see Aquaman hesitate as he suddenly looked up, just before the shark slammed down mouth first on top of him.

Eyes widening, a burst of energy exploded within the youth and he found the power to scramble to a side, right before the shark toppled over and began thrashing on the floor. Water splashed everywhere as the two separate, Jaime not once looking away.

Did that shark just eat Aquaman?

Yes, yes it had. He didn't see the blond man anywhere and the shark was the only place he could suddenly hide in, not that you would choose to hide in one. Well, that was one way to end a fight.

Suddenly, the shark spasmed, just before something sharp exploded out of its side. _No, no way…_ he felt dismay as he watched in horror as the head of the trident slid from one side to the other, just before Aquaman rose out of the shark's side, covered in blood and guts. This just couldn't be happening. It couldn't!

It was.

Landing on the floor with a sickening splat, Aquaman stared at the prone Jaime. "Look at what you made me do," he growled lowly. "A child of the sea slain by my hand. How dare you make me spill its blood."

Whoa, whoa, what? How did Aquaman get it in his head that Jaime was the one responsible for this? He wasn't the one that sicced the shark on him and ended up getting eaten by it. That didn't make sense at all! Forcing himself up onto its feet, he stared the man down. "Hey, I'm not the one that involved the shark—you did. You're the one that can talk to fish right? If you hadn't call it in, it wouldn't be here. It wouldn't have swam through the hole in the ceiling to eat you either."

"A hole that _you_ created."

"One I wouldn't have made if you didn't pin me against the dome. Take some responsibility, man."

"I lay the responsibility where it rightfully goes."

Meaning he didn't take any of it. _Bastardo_. No wonder the others were fighting against the Regime. The Regime blamed others for everything and never themselves.

Raising his trident, Aquaman looked as if he were about to attack again, only to point the weapon at the hole in the dome. Electricity fired from the trident and hit the hole, stopping the inflow of water. Looking up at it, some sort of bubble had formed in the opening, much like the one Jaime had been kicked through earlier. Well, at least that stopped them from flooding Atlantis.

"Prepare yourself, boy," the Atlantean King declared then. "This time I'll run you through."

 _Alright, Scarab, I need your help. Help me take this creep down._

Once more, Jaime felt his body move on its own, though this time he felt calm. The Scarab knew what it was doing and he was going to let it do what it did best. Arms dropping to his sides, his hands extended out and sharpened, becoming his insect-like blades. In the meantime, Aquaman came charging at him, letting out a war cry as he closed the distance between them.

And then the Scarab's legs exploded out of the youth's back, circling around his sides and then shooting forward. The legs collided with the charging Aquaman, slamming into his chest, leaving him stunned as he stopped in his tracks.

Jaime then lunged forward, swiping with his blade-hands. The first blade cut through Aquaman's skin, leaving an angry, red cut across his chest, one that was followed just beneath it by his other blade hand.

With one hand pressed against the angry-looking cuts, the trident-holding hand held out by his side, the blond man hissing from the sharp pain he felt, Jaime then jumped into the air, spinning as he did so. In mid-spin, his blade hands changed, forming two large maces. His foot landing on the floor as he completed the spin, the youth swinging his mace hands from right to left, one hitting his foe against the side of his head and the other his shoulder, keeping the man dazed where he stood.

That was when wings shot out of Jaime's back, even as he reformed his blasters again. Aiming point blank at Aquaman, he began to fire a steady stream of energy blasts, ones that collided with the Atlantean's chest. Wings flapping, Jaime began flying up and backwards, putting some distance between the two.

Seeing that Aquaman was being held at bay, he then stopped firing his energy blasts before forcing his blasters together, forming one larger blaster. Letting out a yell, he fired an even large energy blast, one that collided with Aquaman and exploded, sending the man flying across the room. Jamie wasn't sure where the man landed, but by then he was panting, feeling drained as the adrenaline left him. Slowly, he began floating back to the ground, landing softly as his arms returned to their normal state. He then promptly leaned forward, pressing his hands against his knees to hold himself up while he panted loudly.

That had to do something, anything to put that guy down. If it hadn't, Jaime wasn't sure what else he could do.

He heard a footstep then. Eyes widening, through the thinning cloud of smoke, he jerked his head up and saw Aquaman walking towards him. His chest was burned from the blasts he had taken, but other than that, he wasn't any worse for wear.

 _Oh, c'mon!_

Aquaman didn't say anything, just slowed until he came to a stop. His last step, he stumbled slightly, but that was it. Any other sign on fatigue was pretty damn well hidden, or didn't—

Suddenly, the blond man's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Going limp, he fell to the floor, landing on it hard. For a moment, Jaime just stared in disbelief at the still form of Aquaman. Had...had he actually done it?

Yes, yes, he had. He, Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle, had defeated the King of Atlantis.

So freaking awesome.

So...freaking...oh God, he was going to faint from exhaustion.

* * *

"You are one of a kind, you know that, Doc?"

Dr. Fate just stared at Enchantress as the witch circled around him. It was like watching a predator stalking their prey, toying with it until it found the right moment to strike. He had a feeling he was the prey in this metaphor.

"I never thought I'd come across you," Enchantress continued, not the least perturbed by his silence. "I mean, if I posed enough of a threat, maybe, but I know I wasn't at that point yet. I needed some more power; not anymore, though."

There was another meaning to her words, he could feel it. "Explain yourself," he said cautiously.

The woman looked pensive at his order. "Well, since it's this late in the game, why not? You see, I didn't join Superman's Regime for the feel-goods. I had an ulterior motive."

"So do most people."

"True, very true. Mine was to get close to the Regime's magic users, get them to lower their guards, and then _take_ their powers. Naturally I would add them to my own and eventually I would accumulate enough power to attract your attention."

Enchantress' face then soured. "Except that the Red Lanterns killed Raven and Shazam never trusted me enough to drop his guard." She then gave Billy Batson a sideways look. "Always too nervous around beautiful women, just like a little boy. But then you came out of your little tower, and fought Shazam toe-to-toe. Not gonna lie, I was getting pretty excited. I mean, the two of you trading spells? It was like watching two master swordsmen slice each other apart. One of you was going to win and would be at their weakest; that was the moment to strike."

"Like a vulture circling a carcass," the sorcerer surmised.

"If you want to put it that way, sure. But now the power of Shazam is no longer with us and you're drained of power. My time has come to take your magic, Fate." Enchantress came to a stop, fully facing him as she held her arms at her sides, green magical energies glowing around her hands.

Swinging her arms up, she pointed them right at Fate, firing a large green beam. Waving his hand, Fate teleported himself at of the blast's path, reappearing by Billy Batson.

"What are you doing?!" the boy exclaimed at the sight of him. Hearing this, Enchantress turned her sights to them, pointing a hand at them before firing another blast. Grabbing hold of Billy, Fate summoned his teleportation spell, whisking them away without a moment to lose.

However, when Fate reappeared, he was no longer in the company of the Batson boy. For his safety, he had been teleported to a safe location, far from this battle, as was his intent.

"Will you stay still?" Enchantress demanded. "Teleport all you want, it won't save you in the end!"

"Only a fool blinds themselves to power," Dr. Fate intoned.

The green-haired woman narrowed her eyes at him. "Really? They how about this!"

Suddenly, green flames erupted all around him, creating a circle. The sorcerer merely gazed upon it, waiting to see what would happen next.

The flames grew higher and higher around him, obscuring the room around him. Though he felt the heat, there was no other harm done to him. With a sigh, Dr. Fate held a hand up and the flames suddenly froze. There was no visible ice, just that the constant movement of the fire stopped in place.

Cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the frozen flames then. Sharp pops were made before the circle of fire broke apart, pieces of the green flames scattering across the floor.

And then fire blasted into his back, causing Dr. Fate to cry out as he stumbled forward. "Burn, baby, burn!" Enchantress crowed, the source of the flames. Cringing from the pain, the sorcerer summoned up a shield, blocking the rest of the magical attack as smoke wafted up from his body.

Suddenly, a powerful force slammed into the side of his face, causing his head to snap to a side. Another one followed up on the other, jerking his head the other way. The force then rammed into his body, sending him flying backwards, through his shield, though not through flames. It wasn't until his back hit the wall that he stopped.

Before he could bounce off of the wall though, his arms and legs were suddenly pulled from his body, being held tightly against the wall. Physical restraints then grew out of the wall, wrapping around his outstretched limbs, then locked together. He was effectively pinned in place.

"How do you like that?" Enchantress' voice rang out gaily. She was clearly enjoying this. "It's my own design. No one's ever broken my Bonds of Suffering."

"A droll name for a spell," Fate muttered as he looked to the witch, seeing her standing proudly a few feet away.

"You may feel like that now, but you'll love it after my next one." Enchantress then held a hand up, a green orb forming before her palm. "This one's got a bit of a kick to it, but by the time it's done, you won't know what year it is, much less anything else."

The sorcerer would have given her a look had it not been for the helm. He still gave it to her, but she was unable to receive it. Channeling his magic, he then unleashed it onto the wall behind him, the wall suddenly exploded from behind as it sent its debris flying into a previously unseen room. The restraints were still on his arms and legs, but they no longer were holding him in place.

That gave Enchantress pause. "I didn't see that one coming," she admitted.

"Nor this."

Suddenly, a transparent image of Fate slid to one side of him, filling in with color until two of them stood before the witch. But then they divided again into four, then six, eight. Eventually, a circle of Dr. Fates surrounded the green-clad woman, much to her alarm. "What the hell are you doing, Fate?" she demanded as she let her spell fade from her hand, dropping her arm to her side.

Simultaneously, they all raised the same hand, aiming it right at the sorceress. A brilliant light glowed from their palms. Upon seeing this, Enchantress' eyes widened before she enveloped herself in green flames, teleporting herself out of the circle.

Slowly, each Dr. Fate began to fade away, picking up speed until only one remained. Warily, he began walking away from the wall, beginning to float in the air as he rose high above the floor. He expanded his senses throughout the room in an attempt to locate his foe, finding no trace of her. Undeterred, he furthered his search by searching the mystical plain.

 _There you are._

Tilting his head up, he saw a large, white orb hovering close to the ceiling. It was growing larger with every passing second, just before it descended upon him. Summoning his shield spell, he watched as a transparent blue light appeared between him and the approaching spell. The moment the orb touched the shield, it detonated in a great flash of whiteness.

A distraction.

That was when the floor cracked open, green chains shooting up from the cracks, wrapping around his legs. By the time Fate looked down, he was pulled down onto the floor, and then through it. Rather than sinking into a basement, he was surrounded by darkness, scattered dots throughout the inky backdrop, forming an artificial night sky. Looking down, he saw no end to the chains as they seemed to stretch far into the oblivion below.

And then a hand passed right through him, emerging out of his chest just below his emblem. There was no visible damage, just a forearm sticking out. A strangled gasp came from his mouth as his entire body froze.

"I have you now," a coy voice spoke to him, a presence making itself known over his shoulder. "I was expecting a struggle from you and you did not disappoint, even in your weakened state."

Ah, Enchantress. At least he knew where the threat was now. "You covet my power this much?" he asked, tilting his head to a side. From the corner of his eye, he saw Enchantress' smug face.

"Everyone 'covets' your power, Fate," she told him snidely. "There's just never been someone strong enough, or cunning enough to take it from you. From this point forward, your power shall be my power."

"Then so be it." He did not turn his body, but still he moved. The shape of his back shifted and rippled until it became his chest. Dr. Fate's head no longer stood at an angle as it completely turned a full one hundred eighty degrees, his neck reforming to allow him to stare at her naturally, though Enchantress' arm was still within him, entering through his chest instead of his back. Soon, he was fully facing her, much to the sorceress' surprise.

"If you desire my power so much, then allow me to show you it in its entirety."

The emblem on his chest began to glow before a light shined from it, flowing all over Enchantress. Before she could even move to shield her eyes from its brilliants, she was sucked within, vanishing from sight.

With a gasp, Dr. Fate took in a deep breath. The discomfort he felt from the witch's arm in his body was gone, allowing him to breath better. Tilting his head up, he then closed his eyes. That was just the first part of the spell. Now came the second.

When he opened his eyes, no longer was he in a starry void. Instead, the colors of dark blue, light purple, and pale blue surrounded him, each color continuously fading into each other, darkening and lightening over and over. A tall, skinny rock formation stood in front of him, a stone cage resting at its top. Rock had been made into smooth bars, replacing the steel a mortal cage used. Within it was Enchantress, arms and legs spread out from her body and restrained, much like she had done to him at the Hall of Justice. The woman pulled and struggled against her bonds, but she was no match for them.

The cage began to shrink then, though not because of it was doing so. Instead, Dr. Fate grew bigger and bigger until he loomed over it, staring down on the cage from an incredible height. Lowering himself, he moved until he stared at Enchantress with the entirety of one eye, which made the witch pause in her struggle. "You appear quite small, Enchantress. What keeps you so?"

"I didn't do anything!" she barked at him, though her outrage was a mere shroud for her fear. He could sense the terror overwhelming her. "You're the one that grew fifty feet!"

"Then allow me to part you with enough power to even the playing field." Dr. Fate did not move, merely staring at her with one eye. Just because he did not gesture did not mean nothing was happening though. Enchantress' entire body froze then, ceasing her efforts for freedom. It was her turn to make a strangled gasp as her eyes focused not on him, but of something only she could see.

A blue aura began to glow from her until she began to scream. At that moment, blue light shined out of her mouth and eyes, more bursting from the tips of her fingers and her toes.

"What you are feeling right now is but a fracture of my power," Fate told her solemnly. "If this amount is too much for you, then prepare yourself now: I will be showing you much, much more."

Despite his claim, the witch could not hear him. He knew of this because he had placed one too many people and demons where she currently was. There was nothing she could do, nothing to resist with, or free herself from her bonds. All Enchantress could do at this time was scream.

* * *

Whenever Batman had gone up against Diana, he had always given her the first move. She was quite predictable considering she always led with the same attack. He had come up with a plethora of counterattacks to use against her, some to stun her, others to end their fight right then and there.

This time, he led, the red monster whispering encouragement in his ear to do so. Storming towards the Amazon, he rushed the last few feet to throw a vicious right hook at her face, one that she blocked easily with her forearm. Undeterred, he swung his other fist, only for Diana to bring up her other arm and block as well. Seething with rage, the Dark Knight wailed on her, throwing fist after fist, none of which made it past the dark-haired woman's defense. Even more infuriating was the calm look she gave him, as if she were allowing him to attack her. The very thought caused a burning, retching taste to scorch the back of his throat and mouth in fury. He almost wanted to spit it up, but ignored the urge to do so.

Then out of nowhere, she grabbed his next punch by his wrist, stopping it in mid-swing. Shoving it to a side, she took a step forward, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Diana raise up a hand, fingers pressed together and thumb curled into the palm. Lightning fast, she struck him, delivering a chop to his neck.

Much to his amazement, it hardly hurt. Sure, he felt it, but it didn't have the same kind of impact he was accustomed to when he had spared with her. He knew when the dark-haired woman was holding back and when she wasn't and just now she had controlled her strength. She had been trying to incapacitate him with minimal effort. It was a tactic he had used on her many times; to have their roles reversed was strange.

It then hit the vigilante as to why. The pill he had taken, it had increased his invulnerability to heights he could have only dreamed of. Any light attack Diana could use wouldn't even faze him.

It was time to see what else this pill could do.

All of those thoughts passed through his head in the matter of a second, which left the two combatants standing that way. By then, Diana had noticed something was wrong when Batman hadn't collapsed under her blow. By then, he had moved his foot to behind hers, kicking it back and knocking her foot forward, causing her to jerk to regain her balance.

Pivoting on his feet, Batman spun around until he faced his opponent's unguarded back. Hand balled into a fist, he rammed it until her back, right where her right kidney would be. Instantly, Diana's body spasmed from the blow, causing her to gasp out loud. Encouraged, Batman hammered the same spot over and over, causing the Amazon to stumble forward a step with every hit.

And then she suddenly dropped forward. Before he even knew what was happening, Diana shot her feet out just as her hands touched down on the floor, holding her up over it. Scissoring her legs, her feet crushed down on either side of his legs and then knocked them out from under him. Feeling himself falling backwards, Batman threw his arms above his head, just in time for them to press down on the ground. Bending his elbows to support his weight, he then pushed off the floor, launching himself into a flip, landing on his feet a moment later.

By then, they were both on their feet, turning to face each other in their preferred stances. Diana was giving him a strange look, one that spoke to her confusion. "Something's different about you," she said slowly, trying to work it out in her head.

Oh, yes, there most certainly was. A big part of that was the frail girl lying on the floor, her neck snapped in two. Batman had to swallow that bubble of anger, opting to remain silent. There would be plenty of time for them to...talk. Right after he crushed her skull between his hands.

However, he needed to calm down. If Diana's quick strike had done anything, it had struck him how blindly he had tried to fight her. Anger was ruling him and that wasn't any way to fight a seasoned fighter. He squashed his righteous fury, leashing it. The burning taste in his mouth slowly receded, the enrage voice in his ear falling silent. The red tint the world became began to fade, other colors returning. He could feel his senses returning.

Batman took a deep, calming breath through his nostrils before he threw himself into action. Reaching to his belt, he pulled out one of his few remaining shuriken. Throwing it, he began to run at the Amazon, watching as she moved an arm up before her face, blocking the bat-shaped shuriken and bouncing it away harmlessly.

By then, the Dark Knight had closed the distance between them, leaping into the air as he swung a kick at her head. He purposefully used the leg on the same side as her upraised arm, so that she would keep using it to block him. She did and she felt the full force of that error as his leg easily broke through her guard side, his kick nailing her on the side of the head, sending her stumbling to a side.

The moment he landed, Batman shot towards her, grabbing her now-flailing arm and shoving it out of his way. With his other hand, he drove it into her stomach once, twice before swinging it upwards to land an uppercut to her chin. All of this left her dazed and gasping for air.

Pulling back his fist again, he then slammed it into her face, this time letting her go flying away from him as he released his hold on her arm. He watched as she landed roughly on her back on the floor, skidding across it until she came to a stop.

So this was what it was like having super strength.

One criticism Batman had against his super powered colleagues was their tendency to hit things first, ask questions later. It made rather smart people mere brutes; now he could see why. Why bother using your brain when you could end the threat in a matter of a few punches?

He was going to have to be careful with this.

Diana stirred then, drawing him out of his mind again. Cautiously, he watched the Amazon get back onto her feet, the side of her hand rubbing against her mouth. "This isn't you, Bruce," she said then, her features wary of him. "You are not this strong, this brash. What is happening to you?"

He scowled. "More like what you did to me." He flung a hand out, gesturing to Cassandra's body. "What you did to _her._ "

The dark-haired woman's face hardened. "She killed Kal, our friend. His blood is still dripping from her hands! How do you expect me to let that go without reprisal?!"

"I expect you to apprehend her and let her be tried for her alleged crime," he shot back just as heatedly. "I expect you not to play judge, jury, and executioner."

"I've only done what is necessary! We all have! You would know this if not for Ra's al Ghul stealing you from us!"

"Since when have I ever advocated murder?!" he roared at her.

Diana paused. Then, she slowly responded, "You went out into Gotham, terrorizing his criminals, beating them, breaking them, making them fear you. Can you not see that is what we too have done?"

"It wasn't just the criminals; you did it to activists, regular people. They don't respect you out there, they fear you'll come for them and kill them!"

"How is that any different from you? Regular people were afraid of you as well." She shook her head, her hair brushing against her shoulders. "Can't you see? All of this we did just as you had."

Batman stared at her agape. She was still saying it was about _him?_ Inspired by his protection of Gotham? He then scowled. "If that is true, that this was in my name...if I were truly dead I would be rolling in my grave."

His words struck her harder than any blow he had landed on her thus far. Diana was stunned, mouth opened, eyes uncomprehending. Raising his hands up, he wrapped one over the fist of the other and cracked his knuckles. "But you're too self-righteous to see that, aren't you?" he continued to press. "If that's the case, I'll just have to hammer it into you until you understand."

Those words shook her out of her daze. "If you do this, I will not hold back. You will fall at my feet."

"I rather like my chances," he spat back. "Our strength is just about equal now, so that leaves skill, and between us, I have the upper hand."

"You have no idea what you speak of," she seethed. "Centuries of warfare, battle tactics, and hand-to-hand combat have been instilled in me since I was but a girl. I am the pinnacle of Amazonian teachings. Whatever skill you have cannot best that."

"Last I checked, I've beaten those teachings. Twice by my count."

Diana narrowed her eyes. "That was when you ambushed me. Now we stand in front of each other, no surprises, no nanites, no electrical fuse boxes. You will be defeated, Bruce, on this I swear on my pride as an Amazon."

"That's nothing to be proud of!"

It had been something he has seen since the first moment he laid eyes on her. Diana's pride as an Amazon was unrivaled by any arrogance or ego he had come across. It was because of this that she looked as if the wind was knocked out of her. "What?" she sputtered out. "Why would you say such a thing?"

He sneered. "Let's look—and I mean _really_ look—at your people, Diana. They live on island isolated from the world and why? Because they were hurt once. A man did something so horrific to them that they ran away from the world, hid away in Paradise, and whined to each other about how evil men were. Is that what an Amazon warrior does? Is that worthy of being praised for? To be proud of?"

Rage blossomed on Diana's face. "How dare you belittle my Sisters' suffering! You have no idea of what you speak!"

"Really? Let me guess: violation, betrayal, their whole world torn asunder. They were broken and weak, begging for help when none came. Does this sound familiar? It does to me because I've felt the same way."

"Liar," she snarled at him.

"How would you know?" he shot back. "I know because those were the same feelings I had when I watched as my parents were gunned down before me. I know these feelings because that was all I could feel for all of the years that followed. And you know what? I did exactly what your Amazon sisters did and hid away from the world, shutting myself out from it, and wallowing in my despair."

"Then where do you get the gall to criticize them?!"

"Because I came back," he responded bluntly. "Unlike them, I went out, bettered myself, and I went to change the world, so that no other child experienced what I did. What did the Amazons do? They stayed on their island for millennia without any inclination of leaving. If it weren't for you, they never would've set foot off that island's shore. Face it, Diana, you respect a bunch of recluses that have bad-mouth men for ages. Like a girl fresh off their first break-up, they locked themselves in their house and sniveled to their girlfriends about how evil their ex is. You might as well give them a gallon of ice cream and they'd complete the cliche!"

An enraged scream rang out, Diana launching herself at the vigilante. Batman held his ground as she rapidly closed the distance, drawing a fist back and throwing it at the last second to crush his face.

He had been expecting this. Though his words were admittedly cruel, he knew they would enrage Diana enough to make her lash out rashly. She was too good of a fighter for them to trade blow after blow like he had done with Superman; on top of that, while her powers were without end, his was limited to the effects of the pill. Time was not on his side.

Darting to a side as he turned his body to face her side, he held up a forearm in the event she tried to perform a backhand swing on him. Due to her speed, there was no way he could launch a counterattack, so he instead let her sail past him without harm, continuing to turn his body to keep her in front of him.

Diana didn't go too far as she twisted herself around and lunged towards him. This time he began backing up a step, throwing his arms up as he blocked fist after fist as Diana threw them at him. She kept aiming for his head, never once deviating even as he shoved her fists to a side with his forearms.

Then he changed tactics and caught one of her fists, followed by catching her other a second later. Holding on tight, Batman leaned his head back before throwing it forward, landing a headbutt to her forehead. Her head jerked back from the blow and she stumble back a step, the vigilante releasing his grasp on her fists to let her.

Physically shaking her head, she scowled at him before she rushed him again, throwing another punch. Immediately, Batman jumped to a side, spinning as he did so. All the while, he drew his own fist back, swinging it in time to take advantage of the circular momentum he was generating. By the time he completed his spin, his fist was rocketing towards Diana's face, slamming into it while her own punch hit only air.

Unexpectedly, a dazed look appeared on the Amazon's face, a wobble in her step as she moved backwards. Everything about her was jerky and completely unlike her. Seeing this, Batman hopped forward, placing all of his weight on one leg as he drew up on leg. With his profile to her, he leaned to a side and lashed out with a side kick, her foot ramming into her chest and sending her flying backwards.

Even though she kept on her feet, the bottoms of her boots skidding across the floor until she stopped, Batman scowled at her. "C'mon, Diana, I know you can take more than that. Or is this all an 'Amazon warrior' can muster?"

Anger returned to her face and she began to rush him again. This time, however, in mid-run she leapt into the air, spinning much like he had done previously. Her speed was faster this time and he barely caught sight of the backhand she swung at him. It hit him before he could even move to block, the back of her fist slamming into the side of his face, causing his head to snap to a side.

The moment she touched back on the floor, she used the same fist to ram a punch into his face, knocking him back a step. Pressing her advantage, she drew back the same hand and threw it forward again.

This time, Batman jerked to a side to avoid it. Changing tactics, Diana then leapt into the air, swinging a kick for his head. Throwing his arms up, he wrapped them around her extended leg the moment it collided against him and used her momentum against her, swinging her around in a circle before he arced her upward and then swung her down hard onto the ground.

Diana grunted from the impact, but that was all, head snapping up, teeth bared, she drew her free leg up, her knee reaching her chest before she kicked out with it. Seeing it coming, Batman released his hold on her other leg and jumped back, avoiding the blow.

That was when the dark-haired woman used one of her other powers, specifically flight. Had it been Batman, he would've had to physically move himself to get back on his feet. For Diana, she floated rapidly off the floor, getting on her feet in half the time it would've taken him. Again, she was throwing a fist at him, one he blocked, only to have another punch coming at him from the other side. Again, he blocked that, but quickly found himself just holding both of his arms up, as Diana swung her arms over and over, throwing the same punches. Considering his forearms were practically at her bicep, it was like she was just flinging halfhearted slaps with the entirety of her arms

And then she brought an arm closer to her body, swinging it low and then up, ramming her fist into his stomach. The air in his lungs were forced out of his lungs. Part of him reprimanded himself for not seeing that coming. It was an old boxing move, punching at the same area so that an opponent put all of his defenses there, only to leave themselves open elsewhere.

That was when Diana grabbed onto his cape at his shoulder, holding him close to her. Once, twice, three times she slammed her fist into the same spot of his gut, backing him up a step with each blow. Teeth gritting, though the pain was noticeably dampened, he still felt like he was getting beaten with a baseball bat. It seemed Diana had given up all pretenses of restraint and was trying to hurt him.

Seeing the next punch coming, he then shot a hand down, his palm colliding with her wrist and stopping the fist. All the while, he pivoted on his heels, turning the side of his body into Diana's. That was so that he could jerk his blocking arm up, bending it at the elbow so that his elbow could ram up against her chin. The unexpected blow knocked her back a step, which he held back from striking. His stance limited what he could actually do and it was best not to purposefully put himself in a position to be overwhelmed. So he held his ground and turned to fully face his foe.

That's when he saw it. Right by Diana's foot was one of the bat-shaped shuriken he had thrown at Superman earlier. The Kryptonian had dodged them earlier, which left quite a few scattered throughout the room—this was one of them.

Holding an arm up so that Diana could see him, he then raised his other hand and pressed a button on his gauntlet. The Amazon immediately saw this and hesitated, trying to figure out what he was doing. This allowed a red light to begin flickering from the body of the shuriken by her foot until it went completely red. A moment later, it exploded, the blast throwing Diana up into the air.

In an instant, Batman pulled out another shuriken, activating the bomb with in it. Swinging his arm, he sent it flying at the dark-haired woman's helpless form, the projectile reaching her in mere seconds. It didn't even need to touch her for it to detonate, the blast sending her flying straight down to the floor.

Immediately, Batman took off running, leaping high into the air as he sailed through the air and then down towards her. By then, Diana had pushed her upper body up off the floor, just in time to see him closing in on her, his cape billowing behind him. She was helpless as his boot struck her shoulder, pushing it down onto the floor, where he felt bone break and splinter beneath his foot. A pained scream tore out of the Amazon's mouth as her shoulder was shattered.

This did not stop her from retaliation, however. With her still useful arm, she punched at him, only for the Dark Knight to catch the fist. Holding on tightly to it with one hand, he swung his other one out wide before driving it right into her elbow. The force caused the arm to bend inward before snapping the bone, part of it breaking through the skin as a jagged piece stuck out. Again, Diana screamed.

Finished with her arms, Batman then hovered above her, both legs straddled over her body. Lifting one leg, he then dropped down to her level, slamming his knee into her chest, which ended her scream, a choked gasp escaping her lips. One hand shot out and wrapped around her throat, his fingers squeezing down as she began to gag. Pulling back his other hand, it hovered by his head, a calm, steady fist, ready to strike.

 _Batman's face darkened as he raised his fist again, holding it high so that Maroni could see it. For a fleeting moment, he wanted to. This man's arrogance disgusted him to no end. He knew the Italian's history from beginning to end and not one part of it redeemed him in the slightest._

 _He wanted to do it. His entire body shook as he felt the urge to break every bone in the man's face. His raised fist trembled in its place. And then he relaxed._

 _He couldn't do._

It had been a long time since he had loomed over Salvatore Maroni, a trembling fist raised. He could practically see the mobster staring up at him with wide eyes, right where Diana was now. The only difference between then and now was that his fist no longer shook with restraint, if not revulsion at the thought of beating a man to death. This time his fist was steady, just waiting for the moment it would fly down and crush bone and sinew. It was no less than what she deserved.

 _Cassandra looked pleadingly at him. "I know that if you were going to stop him, you would have to kill him and I couldn't let you do that. I couldn't let you taint yourself."_

It hit him like a ton of bricks. This...this was what Cassandra had meant. This is what she had wanted to spare him. The thought of killing, of murder was whispering in his ear to get it over with, to finish Diana off once and for all. That monstrous voice was back, gentle, urging. It was tempting. Was this what could have possibly happened if his fight with Superman had dragged on any further?

By now, Diana could see the hesitation in his face. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, not the least bit afraid. "What stays your hand?"

Out of instinct, he tightened his grip on her neck, to the point he could feel her carotid pulse beating against his fingers even through the gloves. He stared down at her, wondering why he had never seen this side of Diana, this casualness when faced with life and death. It sickened him. So he answered her with all of the disgust and seething he felt towards her.

"She wouldn't want me to."

Then he swung his fist down, slamming it against her forehead. The back of her head bashed against the floor, causing a spider's web of cracks to spread out in all directions. Her eyes were shut, a trickle of blood leaking from her nose and down her cheek. Even through his gloves, he could still feel her carotid pulsing, albeit slower, but clearly that of a woman knocked unconscious.

"That's the only reason you're still alive."

Releasing her, Batman tilted his head up, staring up at the ceiling. For a moment he stayed that way until he felt an urge well up and bubble up his throat. Face twisting, he let out a yell of rage and self-loathing, hearing it echo throughout the room. There was no telling how long it lasted, but when he stopped, he could feel a raspy sensation in the back of his throat.

His eyes returned to Diana, who had yet to stir. Scowling, he reached back to the back of his belt, and took hold of what felt like coils of rope. Pulling it out, he held the Lasso of Truth, it coils beginning to glow in his hand. Without a second thought, he began tying the Amazon up with it, rolling her around and tying knots until he was positive she wouldn't be getting out of magically-imbued rope.

Standing up, he then deliberately turned his back on the Amazon. Walking away, he made his way to another still body, that of Cassandra. Kneeling down, he pulled the girl's body onto his lap, resting her head against his shoulder. She looked so frail, so broken.

It was too much.

This time he didn't scream. He didn't lash out. Instead, he pulled his mask off, Bruce Wayne looking down at his charge. He could feel tears trailing down his face, but he made no move to wipe them away.

* * *

The last attack Jaime uses on Aquaman is based on his ultimate attack in Injustice 2. It felt like the best way to end that fight and I think it came out rather well.

As for Batman's last words to Diana before knocking her out, those come from The Bourne Supremacy, when Jason Bourne is recording a dirty CIA director about his involvement in a government conspiracy. I always did like those lines and they really worked well here.

To the first Guest reviewer: I suppose you can say this chapter had all three fights.

To the second Guest reviewer: Some serious shit happened.


	38. When Does This Ever End?

Never in Ollie's life had he relished in the sound of a police siren. When he was younger, they were more of a nuisance, interrupting his carefree life. Then they had become a signal that he needed to get out of dodge pretty quickly, what with vigilantism being illegal and all. For the last several years, he had to avoid the very sight of the squad car they belonged to since they were on an active shoot-on-sight order.

Now though, with all of the cop cars and military vehicles positioned outside of the Hall of Justice, Ollie was feeling pretty good about himself.

Standing before the steps of the Hall, he and the rest of the Insurgency stared at the wide open doors. Military personnel were personally evacuating—read: arresting—the guards that protected this place. Those who could walk had handcuffs around their wrists and were forced to either squad cars, or placed in the back of paddywagons. More times than not, however, the guards were carried on gurneys and stretches, wheeled out to ambulances and driven off to a nearby hospital.

Glancing to his right, Ollie eyed Mr. Terrific, Element Woman, and the newly-dubbed Blue Beetle. All three looked quite proud of themselves, and he could hardly blame him. He was a little leery of the Starfire girl, however, but Element Woman had explained the situation as only she could have. Something about coups, or something. It didn't make sense other than Starfire rejecting the Regime mandate of "kill, kill, and kill some more" for their side. She had even taken out Hawkgirl in the process. That made this Tamaranian someone he didn't want to cross just yet.

At least, not without a countermeasure on hand.

To his left, Dr. Fate stood, looking quite exhausted. He had been the one to ensure the Insurgency in its entirety had been brought here and that had exhausted whatever powers he had left.

That left only three others. According to Fate, Ra's al Ghul was dead, killed on Themyscira. He would not be coming for the after party fireworks, obviously. This left Batman and Batwoman unaccounted for and even Fate wasn't able to tell them much. Ollie suspected he was just too tired to look into it, to be honest.

Not that be blamed him. Turning his head around, Ollie spotted the one vehicle that was currently housing the worst of the worst. The Regime was in there, having been magicked by Fate here as well. The moment the military saw them, they had brought out this state-of-the-art transport vehicle and tossed them in there. Cyborg, John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Aquaman and Enchantress were in there. Shazam was missing from the group, but apparently he had been placed in police custody some time during the fighting without his powers.

That just left Superman and Wonder Woman to be accounted for. Considering the Hall of Justice wasn't blowing up, the archer took that as a good sign the two Bats had kept their end of the bargain.

Suddenly, there were some hushed whispers from the top of the stairs. Looking up to it, Ollie soon saw Batman emerging into sight. That was a good thing.

That all changed, however, when he caught sight of something—make that someone—in his arms. It didn't take him all that long to realize it was Batwoman, her mask and red hair gone to reveal the woman's true face. That was all he could make of her as Batman shifted her in his arms, one arm beneath her knees, the other at her back. This caused her head to tilt forward and to a side, lying against his shoulder.

"Oh, man," Terrific gasped as Element Woman and Starfire covered their mouths with their hands. Blue Beetle swore in something Spanish, but Ollie was pretty sure it was along the lines of "Dear God," or something. Slowly, Batman descended the stairs, moving towards them. He didn't even pause in his stride as he approached them, then pretty much shoved his way between Ollie and Terrific.

 _God...Goddamn it…_ Ollie knew a dead body when he saw one and... _Jesus Christ._

"Hey!" he called out after the Dark Knight, causing the man to stop. "What happened in there?"

Batman didn't respond at first. He didn't even turn his head to look at them. Then, a low, raspy voice answered, "Superman and Wonder Woman are down. It's over."

"What about Batwoman?" he pressed. "We deserve to know."

A hand then pressed up against Ollie's chest, causing him to look down and see a golden glove. Looking to his right, Dr. Fate was returning his look. "She gave her life for our cause. That is all any of us need to know for now," the sorcerer told him.

"Got it," Mr. Terrific piped up. "We'll handle the rest from here."

There was no reply, no acknowledgement, or thanks. Instead, Batman began walking again, police and army men alike moving out of his way, parting like the Red Sea.

And to be honest, Ollie was sure he would be acting the same way.

* * *

It was going on a week since the fall of the Regime. Governments around the world were sending congratulations in at a record-breaking pace.

Yet, there was so much more work to be done. Currently, the U.S. Government was keeping the Regime imprisoned, which was alright. The other countries were constantly asking if the prison was secure enough for them, but they did everything they could to reassure their fellow countries.

However, there were new hostilities, primarily coming from Atlantis and Themyscira. Both were currently demanding the return of Aquaman and Wonder Woman respectively. The rest of the world was currently refusing those demands.

Which left the other still-living Regime members. Mr. Terrific had inspected the cells that housed them and he was positive none of them would be escaping without some sort of outside help. John Stewart was separated from his Lantern ring, which greatly diminished the threat he posed. The same could be said of Billy Batson, the boy without the power of Shazam. Apparently, Dr. Fate had severed that connection during their battle and he was now just a teenage kid going on twenty, just with a murder rap.

Speaking of Fate, he had done quite a number on Enchantress. The woman was practically in a coma, though the sorcerer reassured everyone she was alright. Apparently she had been given a huge dose of power and she hadn't been able to withstand it. Mr. Terrific hadn't minded the coma and even then, Fate had placed some sort of magical seal to keep her harmless.

Next up was Cyborg. The cyborg was currently cut off from any and all digital networks, not to mention having a computer program installed that prevented him from accessing his personal arsenal. Even then, the cell he was in was made to withstand Superman, so he couldn't force his way out anyways.

This was what also kept Hawkgirl and Aquaman restrained. Though they were stronger than the average human, they didn't have Kryptonian-level strength. Aside from the occasional bath provided to keep Aquaman hydrated, they were hardly any trouble.

Which left Wonder Woman. When she had been found, she had been tied up in her own lasso and no one had seen fit to remove her from it. She was still tied up, laying in her cell. It wasn't known if she could feed herself or not considering she never touched the food she was given. She had been lying on her side in her cell, not once moving, or attempting to get in a more comfortable position. It was as if she had completely shut down, or at the very least was on some sort of hunger strike. Holt found himself not really caring as to the why, so much as she didn't get any idea to escape.

Not that that was a possibility. She was currently residing in the cell made specifically for Superman, seeing as he wasn't going to be using it. There had been some shock as to the alien's death, but so far no one had taken credit for it. Not that anyone could, the only person around who could confirm what happened had vanished. Word was that the Bat had killed Superman and retreated into isolation.

From what he knew of the man, Michael Holt rather doubted that.

However, that did leave a very small problem. With Batman all but vanishing, there was no way to enact the second part of the Insurgency's plan, namely sending him back in time. With every passing day, it seemed less and less likely that trip would be made; if that was indeed the case, the Insurgency would need to continue on without him.

Life waited for no one man.

Which brought Holt to his current setting, seated at a circular table. Before him were the others that had helped bring down the Regime—minus Ollie. To be honest, they were all Holt really wanted to see at the moment. He had been in touch with the Emerald Archer lately and the two had come up with a pretty exciting idea. They had already spoken to Dr. Fate about it and he was actually willing to help them start it up too. Seeing as Ollie was preoccupied elsewhere at the moment, and Fate was recuperating at his Tower, it fell to Holt to make the proposition.

"Thanks for coming, all of you," the dark-skinned man greeted Blue Beetle, Element Woman, and Starfire as they entered the room. "Please, have a seat," he offered, gesturing with a hand.

"What's this all about?" Jaime asked, his real face showing. Since they had last met at the steps of the Hall of Justice, the boy had managed to get more control over his suit, allowing him to reveal his face. The same couldn't be said about the rest of his armor, but that would have to take some time.

"As I'm sure you know, the world has been ever grateful for what you've done," Holt began, leaning forward in his seat as he pressed his hands together, fingers entwining with each other. "And while I'm sure you all have been keeping busy, Oliver Queen, Dr. Fate, and I have been talking."

"Oooh, what have you been talking about?" Element Woman asked, clearly intrigued.

A small smile appeared on his face. "A long time ago, there was this group of heroes that banned together to help save the world and they did on multiple occasions. They called themselves the Justice League."

"Then they went bad and became the Regime," Jaime butted in.

"True enough," Holt admitted, "but their original idea still holds merit. While the League had its failures, they did have good intentions at one time. So did we as Insurgents. One thing the Regime did while in power was police the world and protect it from evil. Well, without them, evil has a chance to come back."

"That is a most likely outcome," Starfire agreed. "There are many people that desire power and will do whatever it will take to get it."

Holt nodded. "Exactly."

"Okay, I get where you're coming from," Jaime said then. "So what does this have to do with…" he trailed off. "Oh. Oh, I get it now. You want to us to reform this Justice League thing."

Element Woman looked right at the hacker. "Is that true? Is it, is it?"

"That's right, though we're going to be making some changes." Holt paused so that he could swallow. "As of now, Queen, Dr. Fate, and I would like to extend an invitation to reform the Justice League, with all of you as founding members."

"Oooh! Oooh! I'll do it! I'll do it!" Element Woman exclaimed, waving her hands above her head as she practically leapt out of her chair. "You can count me in, Mr. Terrific!"

Great, that was one. Now how about the other two?

"I would be more than happy to join your Justice League," Starfire said, smiling at him. "After all, we have been successful in our coup and it is now our turn to guard our new leadership role."

 _O...kay…_ Holt wasn't quite sure what the redhead was talking about, but hey, she was on their side. He'd take that. That just left Jaime.

"You know, I was hoping to go back to school and return to my family," the teen said, much to the hacker's disappointment. "But I really can't do that with the Scarab still attached to me. I mean, my family has been great about it, but the kids at school will just freak. So yeah, you can count me in, just as long as we change the name."

Holt frowned. "Change the name?"

"Yeah, I mean, if we call ourselves the Justice League, people will just think we're trying to become a new Regime. We'd just be setting ourselves up for a bad time is all I'm saying."

"No, you make a good point, Jaime." And he did. Already, Holt could see the various governments coming after them the moment they said the words Justice League. They needed a new name.

"So we get to pick our own name too?" Element Woman asked excitedly. "I know, I know! How about the Vengeful Six?" She paused. "No, sounds too Tarentino-y. Umm, what about the...Justice Six? Or should it be seven since Batman is still around?"

"The Adult Titans?" Starfire suggested.

"What about the X-Force?" Jaime chimed in.

"Nope, not that one," Element Woman answered. "I'm pretty sure we could be sued for copyright infringement on that one."

"Really?" Jaime asked with surprise. "How so?"

"Guys," Holt interjected then, hoping to stop the tangent they had gotten onto. "I think we're overthinking this."

"Then why don't you come up with a name?" the teen boy replied.

Holt raised an eyebrow at being put on the spot like that, but he let it go. "Alright, how about you guys tell me what you think of this one." He then leaned over the table, seeing the three copying his action. "What about the Justice Society?"

* * *

A gentle breeze blew by, causing the untrimmed grass to ripple. Tree branches swayed and leaves tumbled through the air.

This spot was becoming more and more melancholy with every visit he made to it. Underneath the tree, Bruce stared at the tombstone that read ALFRED PENNYWORTH. For the longest time, the marker had been all by its lonesome, a constant reminder of his faithful butler forever associated with the Wayne Manor grounds.

Now it had company.

Sliding his eyes to a side, a new tombstone had been placed. CASSANDRA CAIN, it read, the only thing in this world to acknowledge her existence now. One could travel the world in search of her, but no record would be found, no one person recalling her name. To the world, she was Batwoman and they would remember her as such.

He didn't want to do that.

Another breeze flew by, ruffling his hair and causing his black trench coat to flap with it. His hands were buried in his pockets more to put them somewhere than out of any real need. He had lost all sense of time here. He had no idea if it was morning, or afternoon. Faintly, he was beginning to hate this spot, more for what it represented to him than anything.

Failure: he detested that word. But if there was anything that physically represented that for him, it was these two graves. What had his vow been again? Oh yes, to prevent others from experiencing his tragedy.

Bruce snorted. He was doing a bang-up job on that one. Yessiree, he couldn't have done it any better. His stomach churned with bile, sickening him.

The sound of crunching gravel reached his ears, but he didn't bother turning around. There were only so many people it could be. "You're a tough man to track down," Oliver Queen called out from behind.

He didn't bother responding; there was no real need to. Queen didn't seem to mind as he came to stand at his side, looking down at the grave markers. Surprisingly, the man didn't say anything off the bat, instead soaking in the scene with revered silence.

He wore no mask, so the face of Oliver Queen was visible. His dark green trench coat was a match for Bruce's and even caught the same breeze that was messing with his own coat.

"You know, I never knew her name," Queen said softly after awhile. "All this time, and she never said a word." The blond man glanced to him. "You either, by the way."

"Then why are you here?" Bruce intoned dully.

"Luck, mostly. You could even say it was an accident." Queen returned his gaze to the graves. "After Superman outed me, I lost all contact and connection to my company. I don't blame them for it, all things considered. The others were still getting supplied and they were nice enough to include me. It didn't take me long to realize it was all Wayne Enterprises-supplied, so I did some digging. I found your tracks, what little there were of them. Kinda helps that I used the same ones as well, so I knew what I was looking for."

Bruce tilted his head slightly. He didn't verbalize the question, it was obvious. "Never told a soul either, not that I will now. It just helped me find you is all," the other man reassured him.

"Something you need?" he grunted.

"Yeah. When are you going back?"

Bruce swallowed deeply. He honestly hadn't thought about that in all this time. It didn't slip his mind, he just flat out didn't think about it.

Queen sighed. "Look, I get it. I went through the same thing when the others died, especially Canary...Dinah. I wanted to bury myself in a hole and let the world forget about me—you're doing a pretty good job on that, by the way. But right now, our job isn't finished."

"When is it?" Bruce asked, finally looking to Queen, their eyes meeting. "When does this ever end?"

"You know the answer to that," the blond man told him.

Yeah, he did.

"For what it's worth, you would've been proud of her. She really looked up to you and fought with your conviction. It was like you were a father to her and she wanted to make you proud. I doubt I'm qualified to say this, but in my eyes, she was a worthy successor."

"I am." The dark-haired man swallowed the lump that was growing in his throat. "Proud of her." He paused long enough to hold back a snort. "A fat load of good it did for her. She's dead and I couldn't do anything to protect her. All roads lead to this for her. What father would do that to their child?"

Queen's eyes dropped. "I can't say," he admitted after awhile. "I know she wasn't your normal kid, so for all I know, this was the only way for her to live. Or maybe she was just a thrill-seeker, a weekend warrior that took this on full-time—in that case, yeah, bad idea. You're the only one that really knows, though.

"But right now, it doesn't matter. All of this doesn't matter." Queen reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "You can still save her and the others. You can make sure none of this happens." His grip grew tighter. "You can still protect them all."

"And then what? Pretend that none of this ever happened? It did and I have the memories to prove it."

"I never said to forget this. You better remember this, all of it, so that if it starts to happen again, you can put your foot on its throat and end it once and for all."

They fell silent then, Ollie removing his hand after a moment. "Mr. Terrific has Ra's time travel thing ready. We're just waiting on you."

Bruce tilted his head up to the sky, eyes closed. He found feel the warmth of the sun on his face, despite how cold the wind was. Maybe it was time to start moving again. Something deep inside told him his work wasn't through, not yet.

It was time to get back to work.

* * *

With a sigh, Kent Nelson took off the Helm of Nabu, setting it down on the small table next to him.

He was exhausted, the battle with the Regime draining him of his power. That was alright considering that the overthrow of Superman's regime had been successful. He could live with the exhaustion.

Leaning back in his seat, Kent tilted his head up to regard the ceiling. He wasn't sure how long his role as Dr. Fate would be on hiatus; he was already being approached to form a new group of heroes. It wasn't a bad idea admittedly.

However, there was little point to it. It was only a matter of time before the forces that drove the Batman caused him to start his inevitable march back to his time. The man needed to grieve, of course, and grieve he would. Either that or his grief would consume him. A price was asked of all who thought they could change the world. Eventually, even Fate had to pay their due.

Soon, Kent tilted his head back down and regarded the smooth plains of the Helm. Its empty eyes were staring at him, judging him. He knew that look.

"You can stare at me all you like," he told the Helm. "That Fate had no reason for interfering. That we've unraveled ordered and descended the world into chaos. We both know it was the right thing to do; it was always the right thing to do."

The Helm continued to stare.

Kent chuckled. Surely he was losing himself to madness, speaking to an inanimate object as he was. Right now, he did not care.

"This world, it was not one worth protecting," he spoke again, though he wasn't sure if it was to the Helm, or more for himself. "Though they are messy, people must have the right to decide their own Fate. Even you cannot deny this."

And then he paused. What truly was Fate? Was it some predetermined future? Was the overthrow of the Regime only one link in a chain of perpetual chaos? Or was it fluid and ever changing? For as lone as he worn the Helm, he could see countless futures for all that he came across; yet, he knew what was in store for each and every individual. He could see their lives, their deaths, and everything in between.

Not so for the Batman.

As far as he could tell, the man's destiny—such as it was—was not available to him. He could sense a strangeness about him, something twisted and unique. He wasn't sure what, or why, or even how that had happened. There was no other mortal that was as mysterious as this one.

Where did that man's fate lie? He honestly didn't have a clue and for once, Kent was rather thankful. To not know something, that was truly a gift he had not received in quite some time.

Suddenly, he sensed something. Eyes sharpening, Kent leaned up in his seat, searching for the source of this change. He found himself eyeing the stone walls the comprised the Tower of Fate. White light began to seep between the cracks of each stone block, outlining them. First it was the wall, then the floor, the light seemingly being held back by the stones, though threatening to overwhelm them.

It occurred to the white-haired man a moment later the meaning of this. Batman, he had used the Demon's machine. That was the only sufficient reason for this.

"So this is how the world ends," Kent said to himself, even as the white light began to fill the room and wash over everything in sight, including—and finally—himself.

 _This is the price for those who meddle..._

* * *

The door opened and Flash was through the doorway in an instant. It was here the speedster found himself in what must have been the ballroom, though it was too small for that, in his humble opinion. It was definitely a dining room and a large one at that. He imagined this was where the President wined and dined his important guests.

However, the room was clearly not ready for guests. What must have been a very long dining table had been tipped onto its side and shoved up against the wall, specifically the one with all of the windows. The chandelier was at least intact, but the ceiling had a lot of bullet holes in it. There was another doorway on the other side of the room, which must have lead to the kitchen, or so the speedster thought.

Seeing nothing worth hanging around for, he raced to the other side of the room, coming to a stop at the other door. However, before he could attempt to open it, the door was flung open and a yellow energy blast hit him right in the chest.

"Ahhhhh!" Flash screamed as he was flung backwards, landing hard on his back several feet into the room. That hurt! It really, really hurt! Tilting his head up, he noticed some smoke wafting from the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, though the symbol itself was darkened by soot.

Oh, this had just gotten personal.

In an instant, Flash was kneeling on one foot and knee, ready to show everyone who exactly the boss was. He first noticed four more of the combat fatigue-dress men, each holding plasma rifles. There was no telling which one had been the one to tag him, so he was just going to have to hit them all a little harder than usual.

Flash took off to his left then, just as the four men fired their Kalanorian weapons. The beams hit the floor where he had been kneeling, leaving a nice scorch mark on the floor. Before any one of them knew what hit them, the speedster dashed right in front of the group, his fist colliding with the leftmost man's face and knocking him clear off his feet. Flash kept on going until he reached the wall before he dashed back, hitting the rightmost man this time as he passed by. He repeated the same action again, taking out the guy in the back and then made one more pass to take down the last standing gunman. He then circled around to come standing right in front of the group of newly-unconscious men, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down on his handiwork with pride.

Now that was how you showed someone you were pissed.

Of course, things couldn't have ended just like that. The door he had used to enter the dining room was suddenly flung open, more of the gunmen pouring into the room. Turning to look at them, Flash didn't once lose his cocky smirk, watching as...whoa, that was a good eight guys there. It seemed they were ready to take him serious now.

"So, you guys want a beatdown too?" the red-clad man called out, shifting his hands to rest on his hips. "I know, I'm a popular guy and I'll try to share every bit of me."

"How generous."

The voice had come from behind Flash, causing him to frown. Whipping his head around, he caught sight of a dark blue ray coming right for him. The ray itself seemed to project an endless line of circles, ones that hit him and suddenly Flash couldn't stand. It was as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, crushing him down. His knees buckled and he dropped to the floor, shooting his hands out to catch himself from falling flat on his face.

 _What the hell is going on?!_ his mind shouted. Seriously, why did it feel as if the world was _so_ heavy? He could barely keep himself up like this!

And then it stopped, though the feeling of being a hundred tons did not go away. Arms screaming in protest, Flash found himself dropping until his forearms were resting on the floor, his upper arms keeping him up. The sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention and he struggled to raise his head up.

It was him, the guy on the television that announced his take over the White House—Vandal Savage. His black suit covered him from neck to foot, save for the bulky-looking gauntlet on his right hand, one that was pointed right at the red-clad man. "I must say, this is how I always wanted to meet you, Flash," Savage told him.

The speedster was pretty sure this guy was being condescending to him and he wasn't going to take it. At least, that was his plan as he began to force himself up; the moment he did, Savage fired that strange blue beam at him, the beam itself coming from the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his palm. Again, he felt like he was being crushed to the floor, the floor itself groaning from the strain of holding up his weight. He couldn't see it because of the carpet, but he could certainly imagine the cracks that were forming beneath him.

And then the beam stopped. "Marvelous, isn't it?" Savage remarked casually. "You're probably wondering what I just did to you."

"Yeah, you could say that," Flash grunted out through clenched teeth.

"What this gauntlet of mine does is dramatically increase the gravitational pull of its target—in this case, you. You may be the Fastest Man Alive, but you can't run if you weight a few tons."

Well, that certainly explained that. However, the effects had to be temporary; why else would Savage hit him with another blast? No doubt he would do it again the moment the speedster so much as twitched. He needed to stall for time, so that he could recover and get back to normal. Then he could use his speed to take this guy out.

"That's a pretty fancy toy," he remarked, keeping his eyes on the dark-haired man. "I'd love to know where you got it from."

A smirk appeared on Savage's face. "I invented it myself. In fact, I'm sure your friends are encountering many of my other inventions. Admittedly, they're modified versions of the Kalanorian weapons, but it would've been a waste to not upgrade them."

"So what? This was all a trap for us?"

"Partially," Vandal Savage answered him. "As of right now, I am the Commander and Chief of this country. I just knew the Justice League would come to stop me once I usurped the President, so why not take precautions? I can eliminate the Justice League at the same time I take on the mantel as the Leader of the Free World."

"Then what was the need for the Canidite?" Flash pressed. He could feel his body beginning to lighten, so the effects of that gravity thingamajig were starting to wear off. He just needed to stall for a little time for a little longer.

"Beneath the White House is a maze of tunnels," Savage droned on, "a relic from the Cold War. In order to breach them, a powerful explosive was needed—the Canidite in this case. I did have other uses for it, but your friends found my supply, so I was limited with what I could use."

 _C'mon, almost there._ "Well, that is sort of what we do," the speedster verbally jabbed.

"Yes, it is." Savage then reached inside of his suit jacket and pulled out a rather bizarre-looking gun. It was shaped like a handgun, except its barrel was much longer, its circumference larger than normal, and it had metal rings encircling it at even intervals from one end to the other. "Now let me introduce you to another of my inventions. This is what I call a handheld rail gun. The shell that's in the chamber is quite heavy, but the magnetic rings help fire it at the same speed as a cannonball. Allow me to show you."

Flash tried to move, really, he did. But his body was still sluggish from the gravity beams he had been subjected to. He couldn't even vibrate his body with any success. All of this combined to leave him helpless as he watched Vandal Savage calmly aim his fancy rail gun right at his face.

A sense of dread welled up within Flash. He could practically see Savage's finger squeezing the trigger, all of it in slow motion. The bang was coming any moment.

Along with a strange whirring sound.

Suddenly, Savage's hand jerked to a side, a loud _clang!_ ringing out as the man yelped. The goons at his side jumped, jerking their guns up as they started looking around. All the while, Savage gripped his hand, face wincing as he stared at it.

Flash just stared at the sight before him. That was...strange. And slightly familiar if he wasn't mistaken. Doing the same as the gunmen, the red-clad man soon spied something sticking out of the ground over by one of the men's feet. It was black, metal, and it looked a lot like a batarang…

 _No way…_

Suddenly, the lights went off, bathing the room in darkness. Alarmed cries rang out, coupled with the cocking of multiple machine guns. Flash couldn't help but feel giddy.

That was when a rapid fire of explosions went off. Jerking his head around, he saw small little bursts of fire and light about where Savage's other gunmen stood. There were more yells as guns were dropped, though it was too dark to see what exactly was happening. He was certain it wasn't a batarang attack though; he had seen those before and this was most definitely not it.

That was when the lights flickered back on. However, Flash noticed the movement of a shadow over him and then to Savage. The man looked up, still holding his injured hand, letting out a yell of surprise before something big and black crashed down on top of him. As Savage fell to the floor, the form of Batman sprung off his falling foe, flipping and twisting his body in midair until he landed crouched on the floor with his cape falling down around him, Savage's prone body between him and his two guards.

Never had the speedster been glad to see the stony mug of Batman looking towards him. It was a very nice sight considering he had been staring down the barrel of an unpleasant gun. As Savage laid sprawled out on the floor, his men were staring right at the vigilante, unsure of what to do.

In a flash, Batman threw open his cape as he shot up onto his feet, a hand shooting out. Batarangs flew from his hand, one hitting each gunman in front of him in the head, dropping them immediately. "Flash!" he barked, causing him to jump where he laid. "Get the others!"

Well, that was easy for him to say, he wasn't the one being affected by a gravity ray. Still, that commanding tone made him want to do as told, so he pushed himself up, surprised to find just how easy it was.

Oh yeah, it was butt-kicking time.

In a red blur, Flash was on his feet and racing towards the larger group of men. All of them were moving in slow motion, reaching for their sidearms. Glancing to the floor, Flash could see their machine guns, their sides damaged beyond repair. Faintly he wondered what had done that, reminding himself an instant later those small explosions he had witnessed earlier. It seemed Bats had some new toys.

Ignoring that for the time being, the red-clad hero turned his attention to the gunmen. Running a circle around them, there was soon a blur of red surrounding them. Drawing close to one, Flash fired a punch at his head, dropping him in an instant. A second and a third followed soon after as he closed the circle lap by lap.

None of these guys were going to get a shot off, not if he could help it. Each and every one of them had a date with his fist and he was going to make sure they all kept their appointment.

* * *

A red tornado filled the other side of the room. Batman just watched the Flash at work, hearing fist-meeting-skull over and over. There was no doubt the man would get the job done.

Movement occurred in front of him, drawing his attention as he tilted his head down. A man with dark hair and a mustache had rolled himself to lie on his stomach, both arms pressed onto the floor, bent at the elbow, ready to push himself up at a moment's notice. From everything he head heard, this must be Vandal Savage. The man snarled at him before he pushed his upper body up with one hand, pointing the other one at him, which was covered in a strange gauntlet.

Immediately, Batman leaped into the air, just as a blue beam fired from the gauntlet. Flipping head over feet, the vigilante landed just by Savage's feet, right before he sprung up again, this time angling his body a side as he held an arm out, bent at the elbow. Gravity took hold and he dropped to the floor, ramming his elbow right into Savage's back.

The man cried out from the blow, even as the Dark Knight shifted himself to straddle the dark-haired man between his legs. Hand clamping down on the gauntlet and pinning it to the floor, he then grabbed Savage by his hair and pulled his head back. A moment later, he slammed the man's face onto the floor. He did it again for good measure to ensure Savage was out, confirmed when he noticed the dark-haired man's body go limp beneath him.

Calmly, Batman took the gauntlet off of Savage's hand and inspected it. Aside from its design, there wasn't much he could discern from it. He would just have to—

Suddenly, Batman was on his feet, though not by his own doing. A pair of arms were embracing him and he felt quite uncomfortable with it. "Bats! You're alive!" Flash exclaimed before pushing him away, though he kept his hands on the dark-clad man's shoulders. "Where have you been? We thought you were dead!"

Batman took a step back, making sure to not trip over Savage. This removed him from the Flash's clutches as he came to stand to one side of Savage's body. "Still as excitable as ever," he grunted, though it didn't wipe away the man's smile.

That was when the doors to the room were flung open, John and Diana rushing in. The two stopped the moment they got a sight of him and Flash looking back at them. Both Leaguers stared with wide eyes, John even blinking his as if he were making sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Batman," Diana whispered before she took off flying towards him, landing a few feet away, briskly walking the remaining distance towards him. Her arms were moving to embrace him.

 _With sharp jerk, Diana twisted Cassandra's head to a side, her neck snapping loudly._

Immediately, Batman took a step back, which caused a confused look to appear on her face. His stomach churned at the sight of her, but he did his best to make sure it didn't show on his face. "Batman?" she questioned hesitantly.

Thankfully, John stepped in. "Batman, how did you get here?" he asked, breaking the awkwardness. "We all thought—"

"I was dead," he interjected, turning his attention to the Lantern. He allowed his cape to flow over his shoulders, hiding his body from sight. That was so that he could clench his fist tightly without them even knowing. "So I've heard," he added with a brief glance to Flash.

"Well, yeah. What happened? I mean, I pulled your body out of that blown warehouse."

"A dummy," he answered. "When I found the last bomb, I realized all of this wasn't making sense. So I found a body belonging to one of the night security guards, put him in my armor, and let the bomb go off. I went underground after that so I could uncover Savage's plot."

"So you really did go undercover!" Flash exclaimed. "Man, oh man, was I right!"

"Lucky guess," John responded, smirking at the red-clad man. Then he returned his attention to the vigilante. "So I take it your investigation brought you here. How did you manage to get into the White House? I mean, you had to have gotten here just before we did and after Savage got in."

"That is true. I was having a difficult time getting to Savage when you all showed up. So I took up a vantage point and waited for you to draw him out."

"What vantage point?" Flash questioned.

At this, Batman tilted his head back and regarded the chandelier. In all honesty, he had gone straight here after his jaunt through time. By the time he had arrived, Savage had already taken over the White House and was fortifying his position. It made sneaking in all that much easier and hiding in the fixture until the time was right.

Not that they needed to know all of that.

"You know, every time I think you can't keep surprising me, you find a way to do it," the speedster commented, staring up at the chandelier. "So now what? Clean up?"

"I'll leave that to you," the vigilante responded. "I'm tired and need to get back to Gotham. I'll send you a report in a couple of days."

John nodded. "Sounds good."

Without another word, Batman brushed by them, all but ignoring Diana. She hadn't said a word since he had rebuffed her advance and that was fine by him. Right now, he could only see blood on her hands and he wanted nothing to do with it. One last thought crossed his mind, even as he left the room.

Finally, all of this was over.

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: Yeah, Love conquers all is not a trope I buy into. It's in a lot of stories on FFN though, very popular in fact

To Shadow: Never said relationships don't change lol

To the second Guest reviewer: I'm guessing that's a good thing

To the third Guest reviewer: Thanks!

To the fourth Guest reviewer: Thanks. There's plenty more story left in this series, of that I can assure you


	39. Honor Is Dead

**I've made my bed in the viper's den,  
Nothing can save me now that honor's dead  
I can't rely on this anymore  
I can't rely on this anymore**

 **I watched them weave the noose around me  
I watched them raise the gallows high  
Never saw the fools that hung before me  
Never saw the warning sign  
**

 **-Honor Is Dead by Wovenwar**

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Superman began, looking across the table at John and Flash. "Vandal Savage has a gun aimed at Flash's head and Batman arrives in the nick of time to deflect it and put a stop to him?"

"That's right," Flash said, leaning back in his seat, feet propped up on top of the table. He was busy licking an ice cream cone to death, vanilla smeared all over his mouth. "Pretty close call, if you ask me."

The Kryptonian stared at the man before continuing, "He then leaves, sends in his report on the incident, along with his resignation taped to it? Am I missing something here?"

Indeed that pretty much summed up the situation. John had been just as shocked at the others with the vigilante's sudden withdrawal, especially after being gone for a whole month. There was no rhyme or reason to it; in fact, he didn't even give them a reason. All the note had said was, "I hereby resign from the Justice League, effective immediately." Any further contact or attempts for clarification had gone unanswered. John suspected the radio silence was more intentional than accidental.

Superman ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "This still doesn't make any sense to me."

"When does Bats ever?" Flash asked rhetorically. "I mean, the guy decides to go undercover without telling anyone, even his sidekick. Just, poof, vanishes from sight, makes us think he's dead, and then returns right when I need him to pull my keister out of the fire. What sane person does that? Not that I'm complaining."

"It does seem sudden," John admitted. "And he was acting a bit strange, even for him. He wouldn't let any of us touch him in that ballroom."

"Bats isn't a touchy-feely kind of guy," the red-clad man pointed out.

"With us, sure, but Diana? Weren't they hanging out with each other out of costume?"

The other two men were silent. "Got me there," Flash said after awhile. "Maybe it has more to do with the secret identity thing? I mean, we were at the White House; there's security cameras everywhere. Imagine someone getting footage of Bats and Wondy hugging it out, then you have a rather beautiful woman on Bruce Wayne's arm who looks like Wondy's twin. Sounds too much like a coincidence, if you ask me."

"That's a fair point," Superman acknowledged. "But even then, you would think he'd stay in contact. From what I've heard, he's cut off _all_ communication with us, including her."

Flash whistled. "Damn, that's cold."

Ain't that the truth. "Well, if this is his choice, we can only respect it," John said after a moment. "It's not going to help us to guess why he left; we'd just be running around in circles trying to figure it out. We have more important things to worry about than that."

The other two nodded their agreement. "So where are the others?" Flash asked as he began biting down on his cone. "Pretty sure we invited everyone, not just us dudes."

* * *

It didn't make sense. Diana had played it all over and over in her head she still couldn't make sense of it.

The rejection, the resignation, the silence—what was going on?

This behavior, it was different. Things between them had been good, or so she thought,at least up until Bruce's alleged death—again. The relief she had felt upon seeing him alive and well had overwhelmed her. She had needed to make sure he was real, standing there in all his dark gloom, and not some figment of her imagination.

But then he stepped back.

She hadn't seen it coming. He must've known what such a gambit would do to her, to his friends. She had been an emotional wreck upon thinking he was dead; his avoidance of her felt like a sledgehammer to the stomach. And now he was leaving the League? Why? Had they done something to offend him? Did they do something to drive him away? What was it? She had to know!

Thankfully, that's where she had a Sister to help her root through this change of heart.

Shayera was leaning her back against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. Diana was sitting on the edge of her bed, leaning forward with her arms on her legs. They had been like this for some time now, trying to puzzle this development out—with very little to show for their efforts, unfortunately.

"I gotta say, I'm stumped," the redhead admitted—not what the Amazon wanted to hear. "He's not even talking to you?"

She shook her head. "No, not one word."

A pause. "How many times have you tried to get in contact?"

"I'm not sure, but at least once a day. He's never picked up."

"Maybe he's tired and needs to rest?" the winged woman suggested. "I mean, he has to be tired after all he did. That mission report he sent in was detailed."

That it was. The report was several pages long and detailed a thorough investigation into the inner workings of Savage's plot and organization, something Batman was known for. There was nothing unexpected with that. "Except that there have been Batman sightings throughout Gotham," she pointed out, squashing that theory. As much as she would've liked that explanation, it didn't make sense with that piece of information.

"He has been gone for a month. With the way Gotham is, he probably has to reassert his presence on it, you know, to get everyone back in line. Who really knows how much effort that takes?" Shayera countered.

"But without appearances by Bruce Wayne?" Which was another thing. Though Batman's reappearance in Gotham had not gone unnoticed, Bruce Wayne had yet to emerge from seclusion. Why one and not the other? Diana shook her head in frustration. "None of this is making sense."

"Well, he does have two identities to juggle," the redhead pointed out. "I don't know about you, but if both men disappeared at the same time, only to come back—again, at the same time—I don't know about you, but that would seem pretty suspicious to me."

That...did make some kind of sense. Perhaps if the Amazon had actually experienced a secret identity, it would make even more sense. That made her feel slightly better, but not by much.

Shayera was thoughtful for a moment then. "Well, I didn't want to be the one to say this, and maybe I'm wrong, but is it possible he's just not that into you?"

Diana gave her a look, which caused the Thanagarian to raise her hands up in surrender. "Just a thought," she defended herself.

The Amazon sighed. "Apologies, Sister. I've just never experienced this before. It...it…"

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does."

This time, they both sighed simultaneously. "So what do I do?" Diana asked after while.

"Well, I could tell you a hundred different ways to get his attention, but knowing the guy in question, it'd probably only annoy him and put you in a worse spot." Her Sister paused. "Really, there's only one thing to do."

"Which is?"

"Wait."

Diana stared at her. "That's it? Just wait?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

 _Well...no…_

Shayera shrugged her shoulders then. "Look, the one who has the problem is Batman, not you. Some time in the the last month, he got a bug up his ass. There's not much you can really do about it. For now though, let him figure out what's going on; any interference on your part is just going to drive him deeper into that cave of his—and further away from you. So sit back and wait. Either he'll get his act together, or he won't."

That last part made her feel nervous. "What if he doesn't?" she questioned timidly.

"Then perhaps you need to move on."

Move on? It was just two words, but immediately Diana did not like them. No, she would not just "move on." She needed to get to the bottom of this and she would do as much. They were adults, were they not? She was owed an explanation at a minimum.

In spite of her determination, however, she knew just who she was going up against; this would not be easy. But as her mother had once told her, nothing worth having came easy.

This was a new, if unfamiliar, challenge.

* * *

" _It was a long time before I came back, but by then, Superman's Regime had consolidated power and had recruited new members. The Insurgency had done the same, but they were weakening. Once it was realized that lobotomizing could be reversed with the right power, the Regime began killing everyone that stood in their way. "_

With a push of a button, the screen froze. On it was the face of Cassandra, the two burn marks on her forehead. Bruce stared at the image, much like he had for the last couple of days. It was only when he was alone in the cave and this time's Cassandra had retired to the Manor. Tonight was different, however.

For one, he had yet to go on patrol. The reason for that was because of the second difference: he wasn't alone. Standing next to the chair, J'onn J'onzz stared at the screen. For once, his face wasn't its familiar stoicism, instead his eyes had widened, mouth agape.

Part of Bruce felt a pit forming in his stomach. He had been over theories and conjectures with knowing of the future and all had indicated silence was the best course of action. Never reveal to the present what the future may hold lest it inadvertently comes true. That didn't even factor in the possibility of a darker, ever worse future.

That's where another part was at war with him. While he had returned from that dystopian future, he hadn't returned empty-handed. It wasn't much, just a flash drive, but it contained every frame the lens in his cowl had recorded during his time in the future. It was why Future Cassandra's face was now on the supercomputer's screen.

He just wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing with it.

"This is a lot to take in," J'onn said after awhile, schooling his face into its familiar stoic features. He then turned his head to look at the seated vigilante. "Are you sure this is all true?"

Bruce nodded in response. "Confirmed by multiple sources, even the ones in question."

"It's hard to believe the Justice League would go so far," the Martian remarked as he returned his attention to the screen. "Why share it with only me?"

"You heard Cassandra. You were the only one to realize the League was going down a wrong path. You even tried to stop them." He then nodded towards the monitor. "You even restored her mind. You're the only one I can trust."

There was a slight frown on J'onn's face. "You speak as if I've already done these things."

The dark-haired man shook his head. "I just came back from a time where you had. It's still stuck in my head to be honest."

"Fair enough." A pause. "Is this why you resigned from the League?"

Another pause. "It is."

"If you don't mind my asking, why?"

Bruce's eyes glazed over and he stared into space for a moment. "I...I feel as if I'm losing my objectivity. All this time with the League, I knew the possibility for it to go rogue existed, but it still struck me hard to actually see it in person. To see them purposefully blinding themselves, believing they were doing the right thing as they murdered and subjugated...I need it back. I need my objectivity back and I can't get it if I'm still around the very people who tortured and murdered the only family I have left. That twisted future wasn't just a world where the League goes rogue; it was a world where they went rogue and I wasn't there to stop it."

There was a moment of silence before, "You have confided in me, so you are not alone in this," J'onn pointed out. When Bruce gave him a questioning look, he continued, "Although I am alarmed by what you have shown me, I too wish to prevent the day the League may go rogue. But we can be more effective by remaining within the League, guiding it, ensuring it does not make the same mistakes. This video footage you brought back with you, this is our key. You can do so much more by staying with us."

Bruce grimaced. The very thought of staying...it sickened him. In fact, the reason for that was because of a certain clown's words that were now echoing through his head. No doubt J'onn could hear them as well. "That's where we disagree." He sighed. Ever since he had returned, a thought had been nagging at him from the back of his head and it had only grown louder. "When the Joker was trying to take out the League, he and I...talked."

 _"You and I have both had bad days. It has shaped who we are and what we've become. Those heroes, they haven't tasted defeat, much less been at rock bottom. Imagine if they were to have their entire world shattered before their eyes_ — _do you honestly think they would stay the same?"_

The Martian didn't respond, merely watching him with his orange eyes. "He asked me what I thought if the League had a bad day. At the time, I believed it would weather such a day and become stronger for it. Now...now, I'm not so sure."

"You cannot allow the words of a madman to influence you," J'onn warned him.

"How can it? I was there. I saw in very stark detail what a bad day would do to the League and it wasn't pretty." He swallowed deeply, the taste of bile souring the back of his throat. "As much as I hate to agree with anything the Joker says, I can't say that he was wrong about this."

J'onn was silent for a moment, a disturbed look on his face. "Based on the evidence you've presented, I too am having trouble against that argument. Still, I do not believe you should allow those words to influence your judgement. There is still much good you can do as part of the League rather than alone."

The dark-haired man stared into space, not acknowledging the green man's words. J'onn made sense, admittedly, but everything was too fresh, a wound yet to have healed. He had to get that across to him. He then looked the Martian in the face. "Tell me, J'onn, as a parent, could you work with the person that killed your children?"

J'onn was taken back by that question, but Bruce could see the initial bewilderment change to curiosity to realization. "Is that truly how you feel about her?" he asked with an undertone of surprise.

"It is. If it takes my dying breath, I will not let any harm come to her. We may not be blood, but she is my daughter in every sense of the word."

A sad smile appeared on the green man's face. "I understand, my friend. Though it saddens me to see your departure, know that your seat at the table is still yours."

Bruce would've snorted, but repressed the urge. He rather doubted he'd return to the League, not when he was needed somewhere else. At one time he would've said Gotham, but that wasn't the truth, not now. He was needed in his own home.

Somewhere in the darkness, he could hear a door opening.

"If the League represents the threat you've experienced, it would be wise to speak with them, show them what one misstep will lead to," the Martian continued after a moment. "We are still at a state where all of that can be prevented."

"And what? Inform them that I'm watching them like a hawk?" Bruce snorted with derision. "They may try to prevent that future from happening, but there's also the possibility they'll go that way regardless of their intent. Eventually, they'll turn their eyes to us and see us as not friends, but obstacles to be overcome. Superman was willing to fight me to the death to protect his throne; he even burned you alive when he realized you weren't falling in line." He then shook his head. "No, I will not put myself, or Cassandra, or you into that firing line blindly. Maybe my interference at the White House has changed this timeline; if that's the case, there's no point in telling them. If it hasn't, we need the element of surprise to take them down. Silence, in this case, is our ally."

It took awhile, but eventually J'onn nodded his agreement. "It is not in my nature to be duplicitous, but there is merit to what you say. What about recruiting allies? Surely the more eyes we have on the League, the greater our chances are at countering a Justice League takeover."

"Or we'll start a fracturing of the League and the superhero community at large."

Another pause. "What about just a small handful? If building ranks is not an option, then quality should surely be more palatable."

"Who would you have in mind?"

"The Flash, for one."

Bruce found himself shaking his head. "Flash is someone I believe will make the right decision when presented, but he isn't one to entrust a secret of this magnitude. He barely contains himself with gossip. For now, it should only be the two of us."

"If you believe that is wise." For awhile, in seemed like neither one of them had anything else to say. Eventually, J'onn said, "I will keep an eye on the League for now. If I see any inclination that the League is going down a dark path, I will keep you informed." He then looked to the computer screen once more. "What do you intend on doing with this?"

"Keep it. I'll have it locked away where it can't be found," he answered.

This time, he received a disapproving look from the Martian. "I cannot say that is a wise course of action."

"Aside from needing proof?" he replied evenly, then looked at the screen as well. "I admit, I do have another reason: her. After everything that happened, she deserves so much more than what she got. She deserves to be more than just a figment of my memory. Even if the future is changed for the better, wiping that nightmare out of existence, that doesn't change the fact that she was here for a time. This is all I have left of that girl and I refuse to let her be forgotten."

"Not necessarily. She is alive and well in the here and now."

Bruce hit a key on the keyboard, which closed the window, taking the image with it. He ejected the thumb drive out of the computer and held it tightly in his hand. "Yes and no, I suppose. This Cassandra won't ever be the jaded woman I met. She won't have those experiences, thus she might as well be a different person."

"Which isn't necessarily a bad thing." J'onn leaned towards him. "Right now, you have an opportunity I have longed for: a second chance with your family. I highly encourage you not to waste this chance. Cassandra may not be the woman you know her to become, but here in this present, she deserves your attention."

That gave Bruce pause. He hadn't quite thought of this that way, but now, perhaps, J'onn was right. So far he had countered the man's every suggestion with logic and determination. Now, the pleading tone in the Martian told him that perhaps he needed to listen.

This was a second chance, not at life, but at quality of life.

"You're right," he admitted eventually. "I can't say for sure that I'll make the right decisions, but—"

"All parents know of this truth," J'onn interrupted him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "All that we can do is try."

They fell into silence then. It seemed they had exhausted this conversation. "If that is all, I will be taking my leave," the Martian told him, drawing his hand back to him.

"Just a moment." By then, the dark-haired man could make out the sound of footsteps drawing closer. "There's something I would like to ask of you."

J'onn stared at him before looking towards the staircase. It seemed he didn't need to be a telepath to guess what his request would be. "Are you certain about this?" he asked.

"No, I'm not," he responded truthfully. "Which is why I'm going to ask her."

As if on cue, Cassandra, young and innocent, emerged from the darkness of the stairs. She carried her reading and writing supplies in her arms, her feet tapping down on each step as she descended them. By the time she reached the bottom, she looked up and stopped, staring at Bruce and J'onn. They, in turn, returned the look.

There was a silence between them that stretched for quite awhile. It wasn't until Bruce cleared his throat that it was broken. "Cassandra, I would like to introduce you to J'onn J'onzz." He glanced to the Martian before returning his gaze to the girl. "He's a friend, someone you can trust."

Immediately, Cassandra nodded her acceptance. The lack of a verbal response was like a punch to the gut, but he pushed through it. "He can help you with your learning, make it easier for you. It's your choice if you want to accept his assistance."

The girl looked between the two men, unsure of how to respond. Either she didn't understand, or didn't know what the correct response was. Ultimately, she focused on him, patiently waiting for his take on things.

That just wouldn't do.

"This is your decision," he told her. "Whatever you decide, I will stand by it."

Again, she stared at him, but this time she slowly looked to J'onn. The Martian offered her a small, warm smile. He would not influence her anymore than Bruce would.

She then raised a hand and pointed at the taller man. "Help?" she questioned.

Bruce nodded. "Help."

She hesitated. For a moment, she looked down at her books, then back to J'onn, then to him. All the while, Bruce watched her, waiting for her decision.

Then she took a step towards J'onn.

* * *

To the first Guest reviewer: At least it started as one lol. The Justice League isn't finished, though they will have to carry on with Gotham's favorite Bat.

To the second Guest reviewer: Thanks for noticing. I never know if the people following the story know or care, but I like to keep tabs on it, some stats more than others.

To the third Guest reviewer: I'm not sure if you're saying I don't have respect for Diana, or not. Overall I do, but every character has their flaws. Her scene in this chapter, for instance, I felt was a little out of character, but I was hoping to make it come across as confusion falling a first breakup. Now if you're referring to Batman's rant about the Amazons, that's something different. That has more to do with the Amazon people than Diana.

To Shadow: It's a nice ship to be on lol

To Melissa: Thanks for coming to my defense lol. I hope you continue to enjoy this series as it progresses

To third Guest reviewer, second review: I'm not sure how you've come to your conclusions, but please keep it civil when responding to other reviewers. I do not want to disable anonymous reviewing as I enjoy letting those without accounts give feedback, but I will if I have to. This goes for other anonymous reviewers as well

And with that, _Fallen Olympus_ has come to a close. It's been quite a ride with this one. I would like to thank everyone that has read, reviewed, and enjoyed this story. Y'all have made this the most reviewed story of my and Anonymous Void's series by a landslide. It was the first of the series to reach not only 100 reviews, but 200, which is no easy feat. So once again, thank you all for your time and words. They mean quite a bit to us, especially for our longest worded and chaptered story of the series. This is also my first 200k word story as well—not to mention my longest story I've ever written—so it'll hold a special place in my library of stories.

Now, this series is not over, not by a long shot. The next story is a return to Gotham and is currently being written and we're going under the working title of _The Eighth Sin._ It will be posted under my account, so stay tuned for it.

Again, thank you everyone for reading.

Until next time,

ShadowMajin


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